Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys: Year 2
by Hikaru Morinaga
Summary: Picture a school run by an insane sentient hand, with teachers who string students up onto the flagpole, could care less about the safety of students, and three seemingly normal swordsmen. Just a normal day at Melee Academy, where it was everything but.
1. Chapter 1

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**- One -**

"It's freezing out," Roy said as he pulled his jacket closer, his bookbag hanging from his arm causing the red head to lean over lopsided due to the weight.

"Yeah, it's kind of brisk out," Link replied, carrying a plastic bag in one hand, briefcase in another.

"Why do you have a briefcase?" Roy questioned, staring at the brown leather attaché Link was carrying.

"Because it's not as bulky as a bookbag," Link replied, stretching and nearly clobbering himself in the head with the aforementioned attaché.

Roy and Link heard someone clear their throat and proceed to cough up a lung.

"That guy sounds like he's about to die at any minute," Link remarked, buttoning up his jacket.

"Thanks for caring so much you guys," the guy said sarcastically, coming up next to them.

"Marth? Is that you?" Roy asked, his arms now hugging his body. He shivered violently for a brief second and Link thought he was having a seizure.

"Of course it's me!" Marth shouted, his voice higher pitched than normal. He cleared his throat again. "Who else would it be?"

"Some paedophile," Link replied, unzipping his briefcase and filtering through its contents. "Oh darn, I forgot my math homework!"

Running towards the mansion, Link shouted behind him, "I'll catch up! Don't wait for me!" When Link looked forward again, he ended up crashing right into Mewtwo, knocking the psychic Pokémon over.

"Ooh," Roy said as he watched it happen. He turned around and ran to try to catch up with Marth, who ignored the current situation and kept on walking.

"So what's up with you, Marth?" the red head asked, crossing his arms now.

"Nothing much, aside from the fact that I have a cold," the prince answered.

"...The cold doesn't faze you much, does it?" Roy shouted over the roar of a garbage truck passing by.

"Not particularly," Marth replied. "This kind of weather is normal in Altea."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Altea's near the mountains, so it gets really cold."

"...Pherae's near mountains and it's not cold."

"But Pherae's also a port city."

Birds were chirping from a tree at the corner of King Street and Devon Street. In the distance, they heard shouting, laughing, and people slapping one another with their cell phones. Crossing the street and nearly getting run over (moreso Marth than Roy), they saw two kids slapping each other with cell phones, a group smoking by the "No Smoking on the Campus" sign that everyone obviously ignored, and Nicholas in a heated argument with Stephen.

"I SAID PHOENIX WRIGHT IS BETTER THAN STUPID FIRE EMBLEM," Nicholas said, flailing his stubby little arms. He ignored the glares he got from most of the people outside. Nicholas obviously forgot that most of Melee Academy liked Fire Emblem.

"And I'm saying that Fire Emblem owns Phoenix Wright," Stephen said, arms crossed and brows furrowed. Marth swore there was background music playing somewhere, and realised that it was due to someone playing the radio in their car.

"Will you two shut up?" Gary asked. "Can't we all just get along? There's no need to have to fight!"

Both Nicholas and Stephen looked at him like he had nine heads.

"What are you, an idealistic freak or something? You died twice and yet you're here!" Nicholas shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Gary Stu.

"_Do you even know who my_ _father_ is?" Gary shouted back, getting up in Nicholas's face.

"No, I _don't _know who your stinkin' father is," Nicholas replied, "and I really don't give a flying fart in space."

By this time, a small crowd of onlookers had formed around the group of three.

"My father happens to be Alfred--"

"Ashford?" one of the anonymous onlookers asked.

"No," Gary replied, shooting a quizzical look at the anonymous person in the crowd. "Wesker."

Silence.

"...But Wesker's first name is _Albert_."

"He goes by either or," Gary said, covering up the fact that he didn't know his own father's first name.

"Yeah, okay, whatever." _Liar_, Nicholas thought.

Marth and Roy managed to pry their eyes away from the fight and trudged onward to their usual entrance.

"How is Gary an idealist?" Marth wondered out loud, his fingers fiddling with his tie.

"I guess he believed everyone should get along and put aside their differences," Roy replied.

"But wouldn't that make him a pacifist?"

"No," Roy answered, opening the door and relishing the warm air that greeted him. "A pacifist is someone who opposes violence. Kind of like my dad." Together, the two took a sharp right and went up the stairs to the third floor of the new building.

"But your father sent you to fight in a _war_," Marth remarked, walking over to the locker they shared. Roy followed and leaned against the other lockers.

"Yeah, and?"

"That's not very pacifistic."

"'If one or more Lycian territories are attacked by an outside force, all will join in and help defend Lycia'."

"Huh. What's that?"

"The oath the marquess of a Lycian territory pledges to uphold when they take over as ruler," Roy replied.

Marth opened the locker after putting the combination in, the door slamming against the locker opposite and rattling. Marth opened his bookbag and placed his first three subjects into it, carrying his fourth period stuff in his hand due to lack of room. He moved aside so Roy could get his stuff.

"You know," Marth said, shouldering the bag, "I really don't know much about you."

Roy looked at him as he retrieved his stuff needed, jamming it all into his bookbag and slamming the locker shut.

"Well, what do you want to know about me?"

Marth shrugged.

"Whatever you want to tell me."

They came to the end of the corridor.

"Like what?"

"Well, stuff about your family, I suppose. You talk all the time about your father and Pherae. It must be nice."

"...What's nice?" Roy asked.

"Err, to have a family."

After being almost knocked over, Roy and Marth continued walking down the hall, through the door separating the current floor from the stair well, and down a flight of stairs before going through another door.

"I suppose it's nice," Roy replied, walking straight ahead, arms folded behind his head. "Though I suppose Father's a bit lonely since I'm not there."

"Lonely?" Marth questioned. "Where's your mother?"

Not looking at Marth, he replied, "My mother passed away several years ago."

In an attempt to change the subject, Marth said, "I wonder if sensei's going to be in today. After all, Link _did_ kind of knock him over."

Roy laughed.

"I've heard that Mewtwo fails his students if they bump into him. I mean, he's kind of hard to miss, being a floating purple Pokemon and everything."

Marth stood in the doorway of the classroom and bowed before entering. Roy followed suit, and the two stood slack jawed.

"We got new desks?" Marth asked, looking them over. They were shiny and the desk was attached to the chair.

"This is an outrage!" Roy said, scrutinising them. "We didn't _need_ new desks! How the hell are we supposed to stand up and bow with _these_?" After that, Marth had no idea what Roy was saying short of that it was in Pheraean and some of them were dirty words.

-x-

"_Kiritsu_!" Mewtwo said, standing at the front of the room in front of his podium.

"_Kiritsu_," the class replied, standing up, hands at their sides.

"_Ohayo gozaimasu_!" Mewtwo said in the most uncheerful voice ever to the point where the class sometimes placed bets on whether he'd quit or not.

"_Ohayo gozaimasu_," the class replied cheerfully.

"_Rei_!" Mewtwo shouted, and bowed. The class followed suit, bowing slightly more than their teacher. Except for Gary Stu Wesker, who had an inferiority complex. He bowed higher than Mewtwo. No one noticed except for Nicholas.

Coming up from the bow, the students took their seats and Mewtwo went up to the chalkboard.

"Alright, class. Today we will be learning about nationalities," the pokemon said, writing it on the board.

"Hopefully someone remembers one or two from the previous year." Gary, being a show-off, raised his hand and waved it in the air frantically, as if his life depended on it.

"Stu-kun, hai."

"AMERICAN."

Nicholas tried not to laugh, while Stephen disguised it by means of coughing. Everyone else turned around in their seats to see one very oblivious pupil.

"What?" Gary asked, not understanding that in Japanese class, you answer things in Japanese.

"Chigaimasu," Mewtwo said. "Hai, Stephen-kun."

"_Amerikajin_," Stephen said, putting his hand down.

"_Sou desu_."

Gary Stu-Wesker was very embarrassed, as he realised his mistake.

"You mean this isn't a French class?"

Mewtwo mentally headdesked, Nicholas snorted the water he was drinking, Stephen facepalmed, and Roy stared at Marth.

"It's quite obvious Gary isn't playing with a full deck of cards," Roy whispered.

"He's not even missing a few cards. He's missing half the deck," Marth whispered back. Mewtwo overheard the conversation and ignored it.

"Everyone listen up, I need to take attendance and if I mark you absent, tough luck." Mewtwo took out the attendance sheet from its plastic holder, cleared his throat, and telekinetically took a pencil from his desk.

"Stephen Alvarez-san."

"Hai!" Stephen shouted, hand in the air. Someone had too much caffeine that morning.

"Marth Lowell-san."

"Hai," Marth said, raising a finger into the air. Mewtwo marked him in.

"Link Mekkai-san."

There was no reply.

"Link Mekkai?" Mewtwo called again, scanning the row of desks and finding his usual seat empty.

"Link wa keseki desu ka?" Mewtwo questioned, asking if Link was absent.

"That's odd," Roy said, "he said he'd catch up to us."

Marth shrugged. "Maybe he forgot to do his homework and decided he'd stay home and do it or something. This is _Link_ we're talking about--he's rather odd."

"Keseki desu," Nicholas replied, and Mewtwo marked him absent.

"Sou desu ka? Ja...Nicholas Pickell-san."

"Hai!" Nicholas said, holding up his pencil.

"Eliwood Pherae-san."

"...Who?" Gary asked, looking around for someone named Eliwood.

"Um, Mewtwo-sensei, you said the wrong name," Roy corrected, blushing slightly.

"Ah, I see. Roy Pherae-san."

"Hai."

Marth shifted in his seat; the chairs on these new desks weren't the most comfortable he had ever sat in. "I didn't know your middle name was Eliwood."

Roy turned a slightly darker shade of red.

"Yeah, well now you know."

Mewtwo almost put the attendance sheet away when Gary shouted, "You forgot me, Sensei!"

Mewtwo, without calling out his name, marked "Gary Stu Wesker" absent.

"Alright now. Who can tell me how one says 'Chinese'?"

The door creaked open and slammed against the wall outside. In the doorway stood a rather red faced blond. Bowing, he said, "Osokunarimashite shitsureshimasu," excusing his lateness. He held out the "Class Admit" slip and bowed again. Mewtwo telekinetically took it and said, "So nice of you to join us, Link-kun."

With only twenty minutes left in class, Mewtwo looked through his lesson planner and said, "Peji hachi-ju-san made hachi-ju-kyuu o yomimasu." Everyone got their textbooks out, turned to page eighty-three, and started reading.

"Then do activities three and four in your notebooks and be prepared to hand it in tomorrow." Link sat down then, behind Roy and Marth, and got his textbook out, turned to the wrong page, and was confused when everyone else was talking about different nationalities and his book discussed different animals.

-x-

Link, Roy, and Marth walked from the second floor all the way to the far right door that led to the corridor with the gymnasium. Marth parted ways and went through the door, was nearly knocked in the face by someone flying around the corner with their gym clothes in hand, and went into the gym to sit in the bleachers and do nothing--that's what always happened on the first week of school starting up again, it seemed. But that was fine with him. After finding out where Mr. Falcon's gym class sat (section P of the bleachers), he sat on the bottom seat and pulled out a book titled I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. Books about mental hospitals seemed to fascinate Marth. He blamed it on the fact that he wanted to major in Psychology.

The bleachers around him quickly filled up, and though it was loud in the gym, Marth seemed to have blocked out all the shouting and screaming and talking and concentrated on reading his book.

"Marth Lowell!"

Marth jolted out of the realm of books and into the sad reality he lived in to the sound of Mr. Falcon's voice.

"Here!" Marth yelled over the riot-level noise. Mr. Falcon marked him in and called for an "Usef Grebinar". Falcon didn't have his attendance list in any particular order.

The blue headed senior returned to his book and gradually forgot his surroundings.

Meanwhile, Roy went to Geometry 21, room 123. Taking his leisurely time, he walked down the nearly deserted hallway. The late bell was going to ring any minute now, and his class was about a yard away. Entering the classroom, he sat down in the desk nearest to the door and tapped his pencil against the desk.

"At least this class has chairs separate from the desk," Roy muttered to no one in particular. He got his notebook out, opened it, and began doodling in the margins. Cows fighting chickens while people threw quarters and fodder was the epic picture that took up a whole page.

"Marth would like this 'cause the chickens won," Roy said to himself, something he always did whenever he was working on something. Roy turned the page and drew a huge chicken with hair and a tiara.

"A Marth chicken," Roy said proudly. Roy had no idea why Marth's favourite animal was a chicken but it was.

"Listen up class," Ms. Toadstool said as the bell rang. Link managed to sneak in the class without Ms. Toadstool noticing.

"Today I'll be handing out textbooks. I'll also be passing around a sheet. You are to put your full name, ID number, and book number on it. I'll start it over here. Row One, please grab a textbook and fill out the sheet."

Roy stifled a yawn and Link poked Roy in the arm with the eraser end of his pencil.

"Mmm?" Roy voiced, turning towards the blond. "What's up?"

"I lost my ID on my way here," Link said, his eyes shifting from side to side. "And I don't know my ID number."

Roy gave him a look that said, "Are you stupid?" and shook his head.

"We've had our IDs since Freshman year and you haven't memorised your number?" Link shook his head.

"Row Three," Ms. Toadstool said, and gestured to the pile of books on her desk. Roy and Link rose along with the rest in their row and grabbed a textbook; they filled the sheet out as they passed by the clipboard in her hands.

"So what'd you put?" Roy asked when they sat down and Row Four got up to get their books.

"078147. Why?"

"You dolt!" Roy said, "that's not your number!"

"I know, I know!" Link said, and waved his hands. "But I didn't know what else to put!"

"You could've asked the teacher! She has to have a record of our ID numbers."

"...I don't even know who has number 078147," Link said, "but somehow I remembered it."

Roy looked at him blankly.

"What?"

"You know that number because it's _Marth's_."

"...Oops."

"'Oops' doesn't even begin to cover it, Link. When the teacher checks the paper and goes to match the numbers, it's going to contradict and then you'll be in a whole crapload of trouble."

Link sighed.

"So what would happen to me?"

"You'd be asked to show your ID, which is something you don't have. Just go tell the teacher you lost yours so you can get a new one."

"...So then what would they do with the number I put down?" Link asked, playing with his empty ID holder.

"They'd look it up in the computer database and find out who it belongs to, I guess."

"I'm screwed." Link remarked, and placed his head in his hands.

"...It's not the end of the world or anything. But still."

Ms. Toadstool asked for everyone's attention.

"There appears to be an error on this sheet," Ms. Toadstool said. "Someone put the wrong ID number on the sheet, and they need to come up here and fix it."

Link laid his head down on the desk.

"Doomed," Link cried. "Doomed."

"...Isn't your ID 101348?"

Link sat up, went to the front of the room, put in 101348 as his ID number, and sat back down.

"That's better," Ms. Toadstool said, and put the sheet away.

"Now if you'll all pay attention for just one second, I want to go over what you have to do for homework." Collective groans were heard throughout the room.

"It's a worksheet," the blonde haired teacher said, and held it up. "It's ten problems, easy. Mostly Algebra, so you should all have no problems with it."

But that was the problem: Link failed Algebra.

"Hey, didn't you fail Algebra One as a Freshman?" Roy whispered to Link.

"Yeah."

"Well then you're not supposed to be here."

"Shut up."

"So you're gonna cheat the system, huh?"

"'S what I plan on doing, yeah."

"Ha. You know, they'll probably find out and switch you out of here."

"Probably."

They received their worksheet and while Roy had no problem completing any of the questions, Link was stuck on number one.

-x-

Roy made his way to his fourth period class; Melee Academy decided periods three, five, and eight would be omitted for the day.

He opened the outer door to his Chorus class, walked through the little passageway, and opened the door that led into the classroom. Inside, his Chorus teacher, Ms. Harkinian, was playing a song on the piano and lightly singing.

"Hey Zel," Roy said, walking past the piano and over to his seat directly behind it.

"Hey Roy. How are you?" the blonde haired Hylian said, closing the music manuscript and placing it on the side of the top of the piano. She turned around on the bench and leaned back against the covered keyboard.

"Tired and bored," Roy replied, opening the _Mario Bros._ lunch box and taking out his sandwich.

"The first week usually is since you really don't do much." Zelda cringed when the door slammed shut--it didn't close all the way due to it being broken--and in came another faceless student.

"I have so much to do," Zelda said, looking through yet another manuscript. "I have to pick out the music for the Christmas Concert--" One of the new students to Chorus cocked an eyebrow. "--and yes, we'll be singing Jingle Bells and the like in September. I hate it myself. And then I have to pick out music for the M-Birds...speaking of M-Birds..." Zelda went into her office briefly in search of a legal pad. Coming back out, she wrote "M-Bird Auditions" in the margin on top.

"If you want to try out for it, please sign up using this paper." Zelda took a sip of green tea and sat back in her chair.

"Seems like everyone and their uncle's signed up for this class," Roy remarked, sipping at his iced tea.

"Yeah. I think I have about forty students just for this period. Half of them will drop it by the beginning of next week, but even so." The door slammed again and Zelda sighed.

"It'd be nice if they finally got around to fixing that darned door. I've gone to Mr. Crazy Hand but he said he'd look into it whenever." She closed her eyes.

"Can't the janitor put something on the door frame so that it won't slam?" Roy asked.

"Possibly. I'll have to ask Mr. Six." Mr. Six was a male Wire Frame.

The door opened, but the blue haired student put out his arm to stop it from slamming shut.

"Morning Zelda," Marth said as he walked over to where his red headed companion was.

"Good morning, Marth," Zelda answered, looking through a copy of "The First Noel".

"Hey Roy."

"Marth."

Marth sat down next to him and rubbed his temples.

"Something wrong?" Roy asked, finishing his drink.

"Yeah, some sophomore tried to impersonate me," Marth answered. "Gave my ID instead of his, they said. But they didn't tell me who it was."

Roy shrugged, said, "That's odd," got up, threw his garbage out, and came back to his seat. Sitting down, he found Marth staring at him.

"What?"

"I have something to tell you," Marth said, head leaning against his hand.

-x-

"Why won't Marth be in school for the next two weeks?" Link asked. "Does he have any idea how much school work he'll have to make up?"

Link and Roy were walking to sixth period, which was Intro. to Journalism, two subject notebooks in hand. Opening the door, they walked inside and took their seats.

"Well, Marth said he needed to go back to Altea for personal reasons."

"Well it can't be too bad if he's eventually coming back," Link said, leaning back on the hind legs of the chair.

"But what could have happened in Altea that would cause him to be gone for _two weeks_?"

Link shrugged.

"No idea, Roy. No idea."

Roy sat back in his chair, trying to balance his pen on his nose.

"Doesn't Marth have a girlfriend or something?" Link asked, looking at the essay-covered wall at the front of the room.

"Last I heard, he was affianced to her."

There was a _clang_ when Link leaned forward in his chair, causing the chair to stand on all four legs.

"...D'you think he could be getting married?"

Roy looked at him.

"Is he even old enough to?"

Link thought for a moment.

"His birthday was before school let out for the summer."

"Didn't he turn eighteen on the eleventh?" Roy asked, looking through his planner.

"Well yeah. And isn't eighteen the age when someone turns legal?"

Roy was still flipping through his planner.

"Here it is. I don't know about Altea, though. And besides, Marth's a _prince_; he can do whatever he damn well pleases and no one can question him."

The bell rang and Mr. Lombardi walked into the classroom, papers and assorted folders under his wing.

"Yeah yeah, everyone take your seats and look up front."

Link, who was suffering from boredom, opened up his notebook and doodled a mini-comic where the evil Sharpie Thieves stole the Manse's Sharpie supply while asking people to shiver their timbers and give them candy. While that was going on, Mr. Lombardi passed out "Writer's Handbook" textbooks and told them what was expected of them in order to pass the class.

"If you don't like to write, don't take this class. There's gonna be a lot of that going on, so either get used to it or get out. You'll be expected to keep a neat and organised notebook and a writing portfolio. The writing portfolio is worth as much as a test, so make sure it's neat, organised, and up-to-date." He turned around and wrote a few things on the board.

"For tonight's assignment, I want you to write about your home life. 'Home life' means a little about your mother land, your family, friends, excetera. It has to be at _least_ a page and a half, MLA style; typed, double spaced, one inch margins all around, a header that has your last name and page number on the right hand side, and if you quote anything from a book or the internet--which I don't see why you would but you never know--a proper works cited page is a must. You can get started on it right now."

Roy chewed on his pen cap as he thought of his home life. How was he supposed to write about it? It's not like he really _did_ anything at home. There wasn't much to write about family-wise, either--if they wanted to find out about his father, all they needed to do was pick up a book on Lycian rulers (current edition) and his father would be there. He had no siblings, unless you counted Wolt as a sort of "foster brother", and he wasn't going to write sappy things about his girlfriend.

"This assignment's harder than I thought it would be," Roy said, writing the opening paragraph.

"How's it hard for _you_?" Link asked, staring at the blank page as if the assignment would write itself. "At least you _have_ a family you could write about. What am I gonna put for it, a talking tree and a bunch of millenia old kids?"

"Well, they're like your adopted family--"

"But my father _died_ when I was a baby, as did my mother. And then my 'adoptive father' died when Ganondorf was trying to take Hyrule, my 'adoptive mother' turned out to be the Sage of the Forest and I couldn't see her ever again... I have no one." Link sighed, depressed. "This assignment makes me sad."

Roy was too busy writing to hear half of what Link said.

"...But those Kokiri kid-people were like a family to you, weren't they?" Roy asked.

"Well, yeah."

"Then write about them. They're still apart of your home life, right?"

Link smiled and wrote all about Saria and Mido and the Great Deku Tree.

"...There's nothing to write about," Gary Stu Wesker explained to the teacher, gesturing to the blank sheet of loose-leaf.

"What do you _mean_ there's nothing to write about?"

"Well, I never knew my mother, and my dad's the head of some weird organisation."

"Well then," Mr. Lombardi said, "put that."

"Put what, sir?"

"If your mother's dead, write about your father. He's obviously still alive, right?"

"...Yeah."

"Then write about him."

Mister Falco Lombardi walked away from little Gary and sighed.

"Why did I apply for this job again?" he asked himself. "Why?"

He walked over to where Roy and Link were sitting together; Roy had two pages worth of stuff written, whereas Link had a page and a half.

"Mr. Pherae."

Roy turned around and faced the teacher.

"Yessir?"

"Do you have any problems with this assignment?" Mr. Lombardi asked. "Any questions?"

"Actually," Roy said, picking up his paper, "I wanted to ask you about something."

"Yes?"

Roy pointed to a paragraph on his sheet of loose-leaf.

"Can we talk about people you _consider_ family?"

Mr. Lombardi read the paragraph and cleared his throat.

"If you consider him to be apart of the family..."

While Roy wrote more, Falco Lombardi looked over the boy's shoulder and read what he had written.

"Roy," Falco said, "you've somehow left out your mother."

Roy stopped writing, as did Link, who actually broke his pencil tip.

"I have no mother to write about, Mr. Lombardi."

"Say what?" Falco said. "Everyone has a mother they can write about!"

Link was sharpening his pencil and overheard the conversation.

"I don't! She died shortly after I was born." He blew off the tiny pieces of pencil sharpenings and walked back to his seat.

"...I see. So you, Link, don't remember your mother?"

"Nope."

"Well that sucks. What about you, Roy? Do you remember her?"

Roy stared at his pen.

"Vaguely."

"Well then!" Mr. Lombardi stood up and placed his hands on his hips. "You should write about what you _do_ remember about her. It's the little things that make a story detailed and yours."

Gary Stu Wesker somehow set his paper on fire by erasing too hard and called the teacher over.

"...I hate my job," was all Mr. Lombardi said as he got out the fire extinguisher.

-x-

"I honestly don't think it was his place to be telling you what you should write about your family," Link said as he walked to his locker, which was on the first floor of the new building near the locker rooms. Roy was next to him.

"It's okay."

"I mean, _I_ wrote about my mother."

"...How can you if you've never met her?"

Link opened the locker and placed his bookbag contents in there.

"I just put that I never met her and I was instead raised by a talking tree."

"Oh."

Link shoved his Geometry homework into his bag, along with his English and Journalism homework.

"It's our second day back to school and we've already got homework," Link complained, kicking his locker closed and locked it.

"You were the one who said they were bored during the last month of summer break," Roy retorted, playfully punching Link's arm. "It'll give you something to do."

"Oh I've got stuff to do," Link said and grinned.

"Oh?" Roy said, walking with Link to the locker he and Marth shared. "Link Anaka Mekkai actually has something to _do_?" Roy gasped in mock-surprise.

"What'd you do to piss Master Hand off _this_ time?"

Link glared at the red head, who chuckled.

"I didn't piss _anyone_ off, thank you." Link crossed his arms.

"I was _kidding_," Roy said, and pushed open the door leading to the third floor of the new building.

"Yeah well, it didn't _sound_ like it," Link retorted, nearly getting knocked over by a horde of Freshmen.

"Those snots made me late to my counselour's appointment," Link said angrily.

"What snots?"

"The Freshmen."

"Oh."

After the horde of Freshmen were gone, Roy and Link saw Marth sitting by his locker reading a book.

"What took you so long?" Marth asked, not looking up from I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.

Roy saw the locker was unlocked and opened the door. Unzipping his bookbag, he placed his books into the locker and took out his Geometry notebook, his English book, and his Journalism notebook.

"Roy," Marth said, peering into the locker, "your books go on the _top_ shelf. Mine go on the bottom."

"Yeah, okay."

"...Fix it then."

Link stared at Marth funny.

"Marth, they're on the bottom nice and neat. It's not like they're all over--"

"But his shelf is the _top_," Marth interrupted. "Not the bottom. What do I have to do, label it?"

So Roy picked up his books and placed them, neatly, on the top shelf of the locker.

"Much better," Marth remarked as Roy shut the locker and locked it.

"...Are you really going to label it?" Roy asked

"Of course," Marth replied.

"...Okay then."

Marth marked the page he was on and got up. Brushing himself off, he shouldered his bookbag and wrapped an arm around Roy's shoulder.

"Let's go home. I have a crapload of homework to do _and _I have to pack."

Roy leaned against Marth, which kind of weirded Link out.

"But who will help me with my Geometry homework if I get stuck?" Roy asked and pouted.

"I'm sure Peach wouldn't mind. After all, she _is_ your Geometry teacher," Marth replied.

Roy and Marth both went down the stairs and through the double doors. By the time Link reached them, they closed right in his face and nearly knocked him backwards. He regained his balance and ran through the doors and down the stairs, tripped and fell over his own feet, went through the other door, and somehow managed to catch up with Marth and Roy.

"I don't think Peach will be able to help Link, though," Roy said as they took a left and went down half a flight of stairs and out the front doors of the building, Link right behind them. "He's not even supposed to _be there_."

"I can still hear you, Roy," Link said, mock-anger in his voice.

"I know you can and that's why I'm doing it," Roy said, turning around and sticking his tongue out.

"Hey! Marth, he stuck his tongue out at me!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!" Link retorted.

"Did not!" Roy shouted back.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Both of you!" Marth interjected. "What are you, five?"

"I'm fifteen," Roy and Link said together.

"Then act like it."

Roy pouted at Marth and he laughed, pulling Roy closer.

"You know I love you both," Marth said, and gave Roy a noogie.

"Hey!"

"...Oh, and Link?" Marth said, not turning around, "didn't you have an attaché with you this morning?"

Link adjusted the straps on his bookbag and shrugged.

"Yeah, I did, but it was a pain so I shoved it in my locker after third period and switched to my backpack."

Marth's stomach growled on their walk home.

"Sounds like someone's hungry," Link remarked when his stomach growled.

"That's because you didn't have lunch," Roy said.

"Yeah well, when I bumped into Mewtwo this morning, he blew my sandwich up."

Roy stifled a laugh and Marth shook his head.

"It was horrible! Bologna everywhere! There was mustard all over this squirrel, lettuce all over my History stuff, and bread all over the sidewalk that all these pidgeons flocked to!"

Roy and Marth couldn't help but laugh at the poor blond's misfortune.

"I hope the squirrel liked the mustard," Link said, and sighed.

"I'm sure he did, Link. I'm sure he did."


	2. Chapter 2

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Two-**

"Marth, wake up."  
The blue haired prince turned away from the voice, pulled the sheets over his head, and went back to sleep.  
"Marth..."  
The sheets were pulled away, exposing Marth's white t-shirt and blue pajama pants. Marth covered his eyes with his forearm and groaned. It was too early to wake up, and it was only Wednesday...

The person waking him up turned on their cell phone, set it to the loudest possible volume, placed it by his ear, and played a heavy metal song.  
"Well that woke you up," the boy said when Marth nearly fell off the bed.  
"Roy!" Marth shouted, his heart beating at a hundred miles a minute. "That was uncalled for!"  
Roy did nothing but smirk and pocket the phone. He walked over to the other side of the bed and picked up the black dress pants on the floor.  
"You overslept," Roy said, "and I've been trying to get you up for the past half hour." Roy dropped the pants onto the bed; Marth took them, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and changed his pants.

"Has anyone seen my shirt?" Link asked, poking his head into the room. Roy was brushing his hair.  
"'S probably in the laundry room," Roy answered, placing the brush down onto the top of the dresser.  
"That's where it was yesterday." Marth was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and didn't hear the question.  
"I already checked there, and it wasn't there," the blond stated, leaning against the door way.  
"Just wear one of mine," the red head said, trying to tie his tie.

-x-

"Breakfast was half an hour ago," Peach said when Marth came down the stairs. He went into the pantry and took the last poptart.  
"So I heard," the prince replied, opening the foil packaging. He took out a piece of the blueberry poptart and munched on it.  
"I have your lunches," Peach said, placing a Super Mario Bros. lunch box, a Sponge Bob lunch box, and a brown paper bag on the counter top. Roy and Link came down the stairs at that moment, bookbags over their shoulders, papers in hand, pencils in their mouths.  
"What was the answer to number ten?" Link asked, looking over the Pheraean's shoulder. "I didn't get number ten."  
"Of _course_ you didn't," Roy said. "You _failed_ Algebra. You shouldn't be in Geometry."

Link huffed and wrote down "42" as his answer, because forty-two was the answer to life, the universe, and everything else. Or so Link thought.  
"I don't need no stinking Geometry," Link said, staring blankly at the sheet of paper.  
"Too bad your homework can't do itself," Roy retorted, and stuffed the math homework into his notebook before Link could copy any further. The blond pouted.  
"You copied off of me _last_ year and you _still_ failed."

Link did nothing except pout some more and grab his Sponge Bob lunch box off of the counter.  
"That's because you purposely put the wrong answer on the sheet and then erased it and put the right one on there afterwards!" Link shouted. "That's not right!"  
"Cheating _period_ isn't right," Marth butted in, grabbing the brown paper bag. "You won't learn anything if you keep doing that. No wonder you failed."  
"I resent that!" Link shouted as he walked out the door. Roy and Marth looked at each other, shrugged, and left. Roy then remembered that he left his lunch on the counter and went back to retrieve it.

-x-

"So we have an Administrative Station today," Roy said as he glanced at the bulletin on the outside wall by the entrance.  
"What about?" Link asked, paper up against the wall as he was trying to write the last remaining sentences to his essay.  
"...I think it's about homecoming," Roy answered. "It doesn't really say anything."  
Link sighed as he shoved the blue-inked paper into his bookbag.  
"We have to present those, you know," Roy reminded him, and Link groaned.  
"Is it the weekend yet?"  
"No," Roy replied, and crossed his arms. "Should Marth be taking this lo--hey, who's the girl?"

Link and Roy stuck their heads out of the door way to see a girl with long hair and what appeared to be a foreign school uniform talking to Marth.  
"They're _laughing_," Link gruffily said, his patience wearing thin.  
"So?" Roy questioned, "they're laughing. There's nothing wrong with--" Roy was cut off by a jab in the ribs and Link frantically pointing at the couple across the way.  
"Okay," Roy said, rubbing his ribs, "they're _kissing_. So what?"  
"That's the whole problem!" Link shouted, still staring. "They're kissing!"  
Roy rolled his eyes.  
"Well _duh_, that's his girlfriend."  
"Fiancée," Link corrected.  
"Whatever."  
"And anyway," Link went on, "that doesn't look like Sheeda."  
"Yes it does," Roy replied, going back to look at the bulletin.

Roy and Link both shut up when Marth showed up next to them, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.  
"What?" Marth asked, not understanding why Link was looking at him strangely.  
"Who was she?" Link asked as they entered through the door and into the warm hallway.  
"Who?" Marth asked, opening the door that led to the stairs to go to the third floor of the new building.  
"You _know_ who," Link replied, getting closer to Marth. The prince moved a few inches away from the Hylian, wanting his personal space.  
"No," Marth said, holding the door open for his companions. "I'm not a mind reader, you know."  
Link opened the other door while Roy went through after Marth.  
"What is with you, Link?"

Marth put in the combination and, with a clatter, his locker opened.  
"I wanna know who that girl was! Don't you already _have_ a girlfriend? You're cheating on her! Wait until I write a letter to her and--"  
Marth stopped paying attention and stared blankly into his locker for a few moments.  
"...Roy said it was Sheeda but _I_ said it looked nothing like her and _wait until I tell everyone_!"  
Marth dropped his books on the bottom shelf, turned towards Link, and got right in his face.  
"For your information, Mr. Gossip, that girl was _Sheeda_, my _girlfriend_."  
That shut Link up. Roy wordlessly moved past Marth and placed his books on the top shelf.

"So, uh...Marth? What's that in your bookbag?" Roy asked in an attempt to change the subject. Marth looked at the object Roy was pointing to and replied, "A label maker."  
Roy leaned against the adjacent locker and quirked an eyebrow.  
"A label maker?"  
"Yes," Marth answered. "So then you won't forget where your books go." The prince took it out, spelled M-A-R-T-H, and pressed a button. A few seconds later, a label appeared out of the end, which Marth ripped off, and stuck it to the bottom shelf of the locker. He did the same thing with Roy's shelf.  
"Sheesh, neat freak much?" Link asked, his arms crossed. Marth shrugged.  
"There's nothing wrong with wanting organisation, you know." The prince grabbed the books he needed up until lunch and placed them in his bookbag according to period number. Roy and Link wordlessly watched as Marth went through his daily ritual of neatness and organisation. Afterwards, Roy grabbed his books for the first three periods of his day, shoved them in his bag without a care in the world about their order, and closed and locked the locker.

"I dunno, Marth," Link said as the three started walking down the hall, "being _that_ neat and organised is...not normal."  
Marth shrugged. "I'm a very neat person."  
"Yeah, but there's a fine line between 'organised' and 'obsessively organised'," Link stated, adjusting the straps of his bookbag.  
"There's probably a mental disorder for obsessive neatness somewhere," Link muttered, "and I will find it." Roy looked at Link as he muttered to himself, looked to Marth (who looked back and whispered, "I think Link's gone crazy,") and watched as Link nearly knocked into the 6'3" quarterback walking down the hallway.

-x-

"Will everyone please report to their administrative stations?"  
Though the announcement repeated several times, half of the school was still loitering in the hallways, talking to friends, stopping by their lockers...whatever they could find or think of to prolong their trip to their administrative stations. Marth left the group half-way through the first time the announcement was uttered, his excuse being, "it's better to be early than late". So Roy and Link wandered the halls, enjoying the sound of their footfalls echoing off of the walls. The hallways were near empty, and the hall monitors were off wherever getting ready for the day.  
"Maybe we should go to our homerooms," Roy said, peering into all of the second floor rooms. "The bell's gonna ring at any moment."

Link and Roy took to the stairs, and at the third floor entrance they parted ways. Roy ran like the wind up the stairs to the third floor of the new building and went straight down the halls. Papers on the floor kicked up behind him from the wind he was creating. He turned the corner and went down the back stairway to the second floor of the new building and made his way to 218N, where his homeroom was. Panting, he made his way inside. His homeroom was scarce, as most of the people in it were in the gifted classes, and because the homerooms were sorted by what level classes you took, he wasn't surprised, and he went to the back of the room to sit. The bell rang, and his homeroom teacher rambled on about homecoming and how one shouldn't drop out of school. What that had to do with anything, no one knew. The teacher, Mr. Garnef, took attendance, stopping at Roy's name.

"I'm probably going to butcher it but...is Roy...Fur-ay? Fear-ay...Far-ay...?" Everyone turned around to see the red head's reaction. Roy shrugged; he was used to teachers mispronouncing his last name (not that it was hard to pronounce).  
"Feh-ray," Roy said, correcting the teacher, Mr. Garnef.  
"Okay then. Roy Pherae."  
"Here," Roy answered, tapping his pen against the desk.

Meanwhile, in room 304, the teacher named Mr. Schuldig was having problems pronouncing Link's last name.  
"Meh-key?"  
"No," Link said, "Mehk-kah-ee."  
"Okay, whatever. Meleki. Now moving onward, before I have to smack someone..." Link just threw his hands in the air and gave up. Of course, it didn't help that people were snickering and that Gary Stu Wesker was in his class trying to be the patron saint of holiness or whatever. He sighed and took out his math homework.  
"Does anyone have Ms. Toadstool for Geometry?" Link shouted, holding up his homework. No one answered, and Link fake-sobbed. Of course, his homeroom teacher threatened to throw him out the window and step on his remains over and over if he shouted again, so Link nearly choked on his water at that comment.

It wasn't any better in room 203, where Marth was stuck with the most obnoxious guy in the whole universe, at least in Marth's opinion. His name was Shawn Toal. He thought he was hot crap because his father was a high school music teacher. Big deal, Marth always thought. Big freaking deal. And so, Marth was drumming his fingers on his desk and pondering why the heck there was an administrative station to begin with.  
"We have a student named 'Prince'?" the teacher, Ms. Gilbert muttered to herself. Everyone 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed until they realised that, no Ms. Gilbert, there _isn't_ a student whose first name is 'Prince' because that's his _title_. No one said that out loud, of course.  
"Strange middle name, though. And how am I supposed to pronounce his last name? Low-ull? Is that like the 'Joel' in 'Billy Joel'? Hmm..."

Marth knew the teacher was muttering about him and stared at her the whole time.  
"Is there a Prince Marth...Low...something...here?"  
Marth raised his hand and said, "Marth's my given name, and it's Low-ell for the last name." The students laughed at her and Ms. Gilbert blushed.  
"...Very well then. Ahem. This administrative station is for homecoming! You will get to decide who will be the king and who will be the queen!...as soon as I find the slips you're supposed to fill out." While she shuffled things on her desk around, Marth stared out the window. There were three trees outside it, their leaves a multitude of colours. Fall was definitely on its way, he noted, and watched as the breeze shook some leaves off their branches.

"Here they are!"  
Ms. Gilbert passed the papers out to each person individually, and Marth noticed that his homeroom teacher was flirting with him. Marth, being the dignified prince he was raised to be, ignored it and filled out his paper. Marth had never seen any of the names before, but that didn't stop him from selecting Joe Costello and Nicholas Strasto as the king and queen. Which brought up the question as to why there was even a _queen_ to begin with, but Marth ignored it and decided it was best not to question Mr. Crazy L. Hand's authority.

After everyone finished filling out the paper, the teacher collected it, made sure they were facing the correct way, and placed them in the manila envelope labeled "Homecoming Votes". As soon as she placed it in the "Things to Go Down to the Office" bin on her desk, the bell rang, signaling the administrative station was over. Marth collected his things and got up from his desk, stretched, and walked out as quick as he could so as to avoid Ms. Gilbert and her advances.

-x-

"So let me get this straight," Nicholas muttered to himself, "we have first, third, fourth, sixth, and eighth periods?"  
Mewtwo felt a headache coming on and searched through his desk drawer for some asprin.  
"Yes," the psychic pokémon said, floating in the air. "It's on the board, isn't it? I don't write things on the board for the fun of it, Mr. Pickell."  
Stephen was too immersed in his game of Uno for the Game Boy Color to hear a word they were saying. He turned the brightness setting on his Game Boy Advance up so he could see the colour of the cards better and went back to playing. Gary was sitting with his hands folded neatly, still trying to be the patron saint of holiness or whatever.

"Nice of you to join us," Mewtwo said, gesturing to the new student. Kweenetra bowed at the door and then walked into the classroom.  
"Sit in the back somewhere," the pokemon said, drinking coffee from his "Please Donate to the LMOA Foundation" mug. Kweenetra did as she was told and got out her Nintenpod.  
"Hey," Nicholas said, turning to his left to face the newcomer, "aren't you a _girl_?"  
Kweenetra stared at him and went, "..._Yeah_, I am."  
"Well then why the hell are you here?" Stephen asked, still focusing on his game. "This is an all _boys_ school."  
Kweenetra shrugged.  
"My parents put me here, so if you're gonna yell at someone, yell at them," she replied, getting her notebook out.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you," Gary Stu Wesker said, turning to face Stephen, "_you_ were Stephenie at one point."  
Stephen looked up from his game and glared.  
"Yeah. When I was a _freshman_. I was the only girl, and then Mr. Hand told my parents that in order for me to stay, I had to have a sex change operation," Stephen said in a nonchalant way. "But that's all behind me. I'm _Stephen_ now. And Mr. Hand'll probably tell your parents the same thing he told mine, Kweenetra. So you'll become...Kweenetro or something."  
Kweenetra sighed.  
"You can just call me 'Kwee'. Kweenetra's a mouthful, I know."

"I am _not_ late!" Link shouted with joy as he walked casually over to his desk. Mewtwo threw the strategy guide for Pokémon Emerald at the teen, who fell over. He got up, picked the guide up and placed it on his desk.  
"Thanks, Mr. Mewtwo, I need this in order to beat Roxanne."  
Mewtwo rolled his eyes.  
"Wow, Link," Roy said as he and Marth walked into the classroom, "you're not late! Elimine has performed a miracle!"  
Link looked at Roy funny.  
"Who's Elimine?" Link asked. Roy, by this time, had taken his seat and gotten his books out.  
"Saint Elimine's the one who founded Elibe's religion," Roy explained.  
Link nodded and said, "I figured that."

Marth opened his book to the page the homework was on and opened his notebook. Gary, who looked up to Marth because he was so neat and organised and _perfect_, did the exact same thing. Marth leaned back in his chair and relaxed.  
"Did the bell ring?" Stephen asked, turning the Game Boy Advance off and stashing it in his pants pocket.  
"No, it did not," Mewtwo replied, "but I'm starting the lesson anyway. _Kiritsu_!"  
"_Kiritsu_!" the class answered, standing up. Kweenetra almost fell over because the desk was attached to the chair. She inwardly cursed.  
"_Ohayo gozaimasu_," Mewtwo greeted as unenthusiastically as possible.  
"_Ohayo gozaimasu_," the class replied.  
"_Rei_." Mewtwo bowed, and the class followed suit.  
"_Suwatte kudasai_," Mewtwo said, telling them to sit down. Kweenetra awkwardly sat down, almost missing the seat.  
"Goddammit!" she cursed, and Mewtwo pretended to not hear her.

"Your assignment," Mewtwo said, "is on the board." With a wave of his hand, a piece of chalk began writing on the board what page the assignment was. Kweenetra, who was not used to this, commented, "Awesome! It's just like Harry Potter!"  
Mewtwo, who did not appreciate having his psychic powers confused with magic, also added, "Kweenetra Smythe, detention after school in the library." When Kweenetra protested, Mewtwo added, "Make that _two_." So Kweenetra pouted, Stephen snickered, Nicholas threw a pencil at him, and Mewtwo wondered what possessed him to think teaching was a good idea.

-x-

Marth went up to the third floor to room 320, History II 21. While Marth certainly looked like the typical history geek, he had a dirty little secret in his closet: he actually hated history. Marth remembered a time when he was younger when he would constantly fall asleep to the sound of his tutor babbling away about Akaneia's history and how Altea came into being and Marth, one day, decided he didn't care. Marth's hatred of history, of course, made it so that Marth couldn't become number one in his class, but he didn't _care_ so long as he was passing. And since Marth was passing with a B plus average, he decided that was fine with him. So he entered the history room and was greeted with various historical figures from different places. He recognised none of them, decided he could care less, and sat down in his seat near the back. The others in his class hadn't arrived yet, so he stared out the window and watched the cars go by.

Meanwhile, Roy and Link made it to the locker room just in time, otherwise they faced being locked out and receiving a zero for the day. Link couldn't afford having another one and Roy didn't want his perfect record tarnished. Link went to locker N26; Roy went to locker E82. The other guys looked Link up and down and made cat calls, and Link decided he would change in a bathroom stall instead. Roy, however, had no problems and changed right by his locker, ignoring the stares he received.  
After changing into their gym uniforms, they made their way outside and over to where Ms. Aran was waiting. She looked impatiently at her watch and said, "Next time, hurry up." Roy and Link grinned sheepishly at her and sat down on the fake grass. Gary shrieked when a butterfly landed on his nose, scaring the poor insect off, and received a glare from Ms. Aran.  
"Butterflies should be the least of your problems," she said. "Try fighting alien lifeforms and then we'll talk about scary." She took attendance and threw the grade book onto the turf.

"Here's what we're doing today. Because I know most of you are lazy and think physical education is the easiest thing in the world, I'm going to have you run four laps around the track. For those of you who are math-illiterate, that's exactly one mile. Just make sure to pace yourself so you don't burn out all of your energy and can only run half a lap. Half a lap is not acceptable. One lap isn't acceptable. I want at least two and a half before you even _think_ about walking to catch your breath. Any questions?" The blonde looked into the eyes of each and every student and saw no hands raised.  
"Alright then, get going!" She clapped three times and the class walked onto the track.  
"Let's go!" Ms. Aran shouted, gesturing to the people standing on the track. "What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?"  
"Yeah!" one kid replied, and everyone quickly moved away from him.  
"Alright then," Ms. Aran said, crossing her arms. "You are cordially invited to run exactly one mile around the track for Ms. Samus Aran's gym class." Everyone laughed at the kid and began running; Link and Roy, however, decided it would be best to jog so as to conserve energy.

After the first two laps, most of the class was half dead, the cool air doing nothing to stop them from sweating profusely.  
"And that," Roy said as three people collasped on the field, "is why they should've started out jogging." The Pheraean looked to his right and saw Link was having difficulty keeping up.  
"Link? Are you alright?" Roy asked, concerned.  
Link said nothing as he was huffing and puffing too much to talk.  
"Can't...go...on..." was all Link said before he stopped. Roy kept on going, and by the time he and Link were reunited, they were pretty much the only ones left.

Meanwhile, Marth was practically bored to death. Learning the histories of different worlds in Nintendo Land should be exciting, right? That's what Marth figured, which was why he took the class. But now, he realised, it was the most boring thing in the world.  
'How can Zelda think Hylian lore and history is exciting?' the prince thought as he copied down yet another ruler and another accomplishment in his binder. He looked out the window again and saw two boys kicking what looked like a freshman. Of course, since this was the Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys ('And juvenile deliquents,' Marth mentally added), no one was around when the abuse was taking place. Mr. Hand didn't care enough about anyone to have some sort of security on the premise, waving it away and remarking that they had Smashers in the school that could keep the school safe and what not.

Seventeen Smashers were in Melee Academy. Out of twenty five, that might seem like a lot. However, weapons and magic were not allowed to be brought or preformed in on the campus, so in the end, only the Smashers that did hand-to-hand combat could defend the school. And even then, what if the attacker was armed? Mewtwo kept up with his psychic abilities because of tenure so he could basically do whatever he wanted. But what about the others...?

Marth's head began to hurt and Mr. Dragmire was short of throwing a textbook at the prince when he snapped out of his thoughts.  
"Yes sir?" Marth asked.  
"Answer the question already, Marth," the Gerudo responded, placing the textbook on the desk.  
"...Which was what, sir?"  
Mr. Dragmire rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and sighed in aggravation.  
"Who is the current ruler of Hyrule?"  
Marth mentally hit his head against his desk.  
"Princess Zelda...?"  
"_No_!" Mr. Dragmire shouted and slammed his fists on the desk in front of him. The sudden rumble of the floor made Marth's fellow classmates shriek and shout about earthquakes.  
"...No, sir?" Marth asked, remaining calm.  
"No, of course not! _I_ am the current ruler of Hyrule! Me!"  
Marth sighed.  
"Yes, sir."

Meanwhile, outside on the track, Link was coming up on his third lap, Roy beside him.  
"Ugh," Link said in between his panting, "I...I don't feel very good."  
Roy looked at him with concern.  
"Wanna stop?"  
"No!" Link shouted and regretted it when his throat began to ache more. "I will not give up! I am the Hero of Time! I cannot lose!"  
Roy looked around and saw everyone else passed out on the track.  
"Link? I don't think it's possible to lose at this point."

Suddenly, Link dropped to his knees and fell over. Roy skidded to a halt, ran back to where Link was, and knelt beside him.  
"Link?" Roy tapped Link on the face. "L_in_k." Roy slapped his cheek lightly.  
"Well this doesn't look good," Roy said, standing up. He grabbed Link and made an attempt to carry him, but Link was too heavy for him.  
"Dammit," Roy shouted, laying Link down gently. The Pheraean ran over to Ms. Aran and explained the situation.  
"Alright, I'll call the V.P. and get an ambulance," Ms. Aran said, and ran up the stairs as fast as she could.

The bell rang, and Roy had no idea whether to stay with Link or go up to the locker room and change.

-x-

"Hey, did you hear? Some sophomore passed out doing the mile lap!"  
Marth ignored the gossip around him about the Sophomore Who Passed Out During Gym and took his usual seat in Chorus class. Zelda was in her office on the phone with someone, her face a mask of worry and concern.  
Marth got his lunch out, figuring it was okay to eat his lunch then since his lunch period was cut out. He thought it was odd that Roy wasn't there, but shrugged and figured he was late.

Zelda pressed a button on her cell phone and flipped the cover closed.  
"So I assume you've heard about the Sophomore Who Passed Out During Gym, Zelda?" Marth asked as he peeled the crust off the top part of the bread.  
"Yeah," she replied. "Do you know who it was?"  
Marth shook his head.  
"No one ever mentions a name. Just that he was a sophomore."  
Zelda sighed.  
"It was Link."

Marth nearly choked on his sandwich.  
"_What_?"  
"That's what I said," Zelda replied. "Heat exhaustion, according to the young man who stayed with him the whole time. That and dehydration."  
Marth didn't know what to say except, "Where's Roy?"  
Zelda sat down on the top of the piano.  
"With Link at the hospital. He's the one who stayed with him while Samus went to get help."

"Are we doing anything today?" someone asked, mouth half-full with food.  
"No," Zelda answered, sliding off the top of the piano. "I'm not in the mood today."  
Marth wanted to know why the hell Samus had her gym class run outside when it was about eighty five degrees without the heat index.

-x-

Link and Roy returned to school in time for sixth period. The blond was a bit shaky, but otherwise he was perfectly fine (and Zelda practically cried when he returned).

"Alright class! Today you're presenting those stories we've been working on for the past two days. I told you to write a page telling me about one person in your life who you look up to. Tissues are on the window sill, if and when someone needs them," Mr. Lombardi said, and sat in one of the back row seats.  
"Who wants to go first?"  
No one raised their hand.  
"Hmm. Let's see. Link, you go first."  
Link nearly jumped when his name was called, and so he went searching for his paper in the Bookbag of No Return, aptly named because he could never find anything in it.

After several minutes of throwing books and other objects out of his bag, he found his wrinkled and slightly torn paper, pushed his chair back, walked up to the front of the room, and waited.  
"You can start when you're ready, Link."  
'But what if you're _not_ ready?' Link thought, and read the first line. 'Oh, this is _terrible_.'  
"Ahem. The one person in my life who I look up to would have to be..."  
Link was not good at speaking in front of an audience and envied anyone who could. He tried to keep his hands from shaking too much and tried to focus on the words.  
"Saria, my foster mother."

Mr. Lombardi gestured for Link to continue.  
"Alright. Well, Saria was always patient, and nothing ever bothered her, whereas I was always the exact opposite. She told me that there was nothing wrong with being different, because you can't exactly help it." And so Link went on and on about Saria and how she was a role model.

When Link was finished, he walked to the back of the room amidst a few claps, and handed Mr. Lombardi his paper.  
"We have about twenty minutes left, so who wants to go next?"  
Again, no one raised their hand.  
"Cecil, you go."  
Cecil grumbled before he finally got up and went to the front of the room.  
"My person thing is my best buddy, Ross," he began, and Link envied him for not flinching.

-x-

"I can't believe I have to go first tomorrow!" Roy shouted, walking up the two flights of stairs to get to the fourth floor.  
"Well at least you didn't have to go first _today_," Link replied, Biology books in hand. "And we so need elevators."  
Roy and Link walked past the alcove where the elevator was.  
"Uh, Link? We already _have_ elevators."  
"Oh. Well, in that case, we need escalators."  
"...Why?"  
"So then we don't have to walk up the stairs."

They rounded the corner and picked up the pace, the halls becoming more and more deserted.  
"Watch'll _kill_ us if we're late again!" Link cried as he broke into a run.  
"_Us_?" Roy shouted after the blond, "you mean _you_. I've never been late to class ever!"  
Roy and Link just made it into the classroom when the bell struck "late". Two people showed up after it rang and received tardies.

"Alright class!" Mr. Game and Watch said. "It's time for notes!" The class groaned as Roy took his seat up front while Link sat all the way in the back.  
"Today we are going to be learning about _real_ biology."  
"As opposed to fake biology?" someone from the middle asked.  
"No. As opposed to chemistry and stuff," Mr. Game and Watch answered, taking the question seriously. Link just shook his head and Roy sighed.

Meanwhile in the Band room, Marth was sorting out stuff in his cubbie hole, going through manuscripts and tossing out what he didn't need.  
"Shouldn't you be practising?" Kevin asked the prince as he retrieved his saxophone.  
"I'm getting to that," Marth replied, and took out what he needed. "Now I need a music stand..."

After hunting a music stand down, he balanced his flute in one hand, manuscript under his arm, the stand in the other hand, and a pencil in his mouth. Going over to an empty chair, he sat down, adjusted the stand so it was the correct height, and placed the music onto it.  
"Are you like, OCD or something?" Kevin asked, cleaning his sax.  
Marth was about to play his piece when he replied, "No, I just like to be organised."  
Kevin said, "Whatever," and any further speaking was drowned out by Marth playing. Kelly hit a wrong note on his clarinet and Marth cursed due to the bad note making him mess up as well. Marth's ears were sensitive when it came to music, and one wrong note could mess him up pretty badly.

Back in Academic Biology, Roy and Link were taking notes on more stuff they wouldn't need to know later on in life. It wasn't like Roy had to have a career, and it wasn't like Link was going to become a scientist. Besides, Link already had a job and all it required was knowledge on combat with a sword and various other weapons. And the best way to kill enemies with a horse. Everyone else in the class would end up flipping burgers for their meaningless existence, and you really don't want to know the chemical make up of the food at the local Mickey D's anyway.

After twenty minutes of taking notes that meant nothing to anyone, the announcements finally came on.  
"...S.A.D.D. will be hosting the annual Battle of the Bands competition. All are welcome to sign up for try-outs. Grand prize is a trophy, ten dollars, and a box of Cheez-its. JV Tennis versus West Field home tonight at five o'clock. Attention all E.R.A.S.E. members..."

Marth began playing some impromptu songs simply because he was bored and the announcements were on. Some songs were from Zelda, others were random ones he made up on the spot. Kevin was playing some Jazz, while Kelly was working on his clarinet solo.  
"We should form a band and sign up for Battle of the Bands!" Kevin exclaimed, throwing his sax up in the air. He caught it, did some nifty tricks, and placed it over his shoulder.  
"Like that would work," Kelly said, writing corrections on his sheet music. "A band where the instruments are a flute, a saxophone, and a clarinet. That sounds _beautiful_."  
"And besides," Marth butted in, "I'm sure my friend Link's going to come up with a band idea I'll be dragged into, so I'd better leave myself open."

-x-

Roy and Link were waiting on the steps outside the school for their third companion when the girl from that morning nervously stood by the gate.  
"Hey, that's Marth's girlfriend," Link said, looking up from his Geometry homework. "What's her name again?"  
"Sheeda," Roy said, putting his writing notebook away. "I guess she's waiting for Marth, too."  
"What the heck's taking him so long, anyway?" Link wondered, juggling his sandwich and his books at the same time.  
"Probably the usual," Roy replied. "He's gotta make sure his flute is placed back _just so_ and that the manuscripts are placed back neatly on top of the flute case and--"  
"What's this about a flute case?" a voice behind them asked. They turned around and saw the aforementioned prince standing in the doorway, flute case under his arm.  
"Nothing," Link said, nudging Roy in the arm. "Right, Roy?"  
"Uh...yeah."

"Oh, and before I forget," Marth said as he dug around in his pocket. "Give this to Master Hand for me, will you?" He handed the note to Roy, who took it and looked at it.  
"What is it?"  
"It's my leave of absence notice. I'll be gone for about two weeks starting tomorrow." The trio walked down the stairs and met the girl at the gate.  
"...Why _are_ you leaving for two weeks, anyway?" Link asked. "Isn't that kind of long?"  
Marth shrugged.  
"It's not long."  
"But _why_?"  
"I'm... I'm getting married."

Link was dumbfounded.  
"_Married_?"  
Marth nodded.  
"There's nothing wrong with that or anything...last I checked."  
"But you're too young!" Link shouted. "You're only eighteen!"  
"And according to Altean law, that's the age I have to be married by."  
"...So you're getting married?" Link asked again when he calmed down.  
"_Yes_. Oh, and before I forget, I guess I should introduce you two to Sheeda."

The girl waved.  
Link had no words.  
"And that is why I didn't tell you until now," Marth said as he glanced at Link's expression. "Now let's go home. I'm tired and I've got a ton of packing to do."

So Link, Marth, Roy, and Sheeda walked back to the Manse, Marth trying to explain the whole situation to Link the whole time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Three-**

Marth sighed as he walked out of the dorm room he shared with Roy. It was quiet in the hallways, either due to the Smashers still sleeping or being elsewhere. Hands in his pockets, he made his way downstairs to the kitchens where Peach was still making breakfast. Mewtwo was sipping some orange juice while Pikachu filled Mewtwo's thermos with fresh, Colombian brewed coffee, adding about twelve sugars to the dark liquid. Pikachu "chu"ed in greeting to Marth, who returned it with a slight nod of his head.

"The eggs are ready," Peach said as she placed a plate full of them on the table in front of the cat-like pokemon. Mewtwo watched as Pikachu doused his with ketchup with a bit of interest.  
"What would you like, Marth?" Peach asked as she went over to the cupboard to get pancake mix.  
"Pancakes would be fine," the blue haired swordsman replied as he sat down near the end of the table.

"No, wait, that's _my_ cap, Young Link!"  
"We wear the same one, what does it matter?!"  
"Give it back!"  
"You'll have to catch me first!"  
Young Link ran through the kitchen, looking behind him to stick his tongue out at his older self, and made a bee line for the living room. Link, cap-less and disheveled, attempted to make a lasso out of his tie and took chase after his younger counterpart. Zelda came into the warm kitchen to see Peach making pancakes on the grill and sat down next to Marth.

"Morning Zelda," Peach said as she made Bowser's lunch. She knocked over the salt container, picked some up, and threw it over her left shoulder as she placed a slice of bread on top of the meat.  
"Good morning, Peach," Zelda answered back and she picked up the newspaper.  
"Say, Marth," Zelda said as she opened to the Entertainment section, "is Roy feeling all right? I heard some...strange noises from his room on my way down."  
Marth shrugged as Peach placed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of him.  
"Thank you, Peach," Marth said, and she smiled.  
"No problem, Marth."

Marth took a bite out of his breakfast, chewed, and swallowed before saying, "He wouldn't get up so I just went about my business. I didn't notice anything odd."  
Zelda turned the pages, noted that there was nothing interesting, and folded the paper up.  
"Well, he sounded sick so I'd go check on him." Zelda grabbed a banana from the bowl on the table and unpeeled it.  
"I'll do so after breakfast," Marth said, cutting up his pancakes.

-x-

"Roy? Are you okay?"  
Marth opened the door a crack, giving Roy a chance to cover himself up if he wasn't decent, before he opened it fully. After waiting thirty seconds, he opened the door fully to see Roy hanging off of the side of his bed. A teal coloured bucket was right next to the bed, and Marth winced from the sound of Roy retching.  
"Does it _sound_ like I'm okay?" Roy said at last, his voice hoarse. He wiped his mouth with a tissue and rolled back onto the bed.  
"Well obviously not," Marth replied, leaning against the door frame. "So what's wrong, exactly?"  
"I think I caught the stomach flu," Roy answered, sitting up against his red covered pillow.

"If you want," Marth said, crossing the room and sitting at the foot of the bed, "I could have Peach come up here..." Roy shook his head and pulled his bed covers up so they covered his legs.  
"I'll be fine, thank you. And besides, she has school to go to." Roy leaned over the side of his bed again in search of his school pants.  
"What are you doing?" Marth asked, looking over the side. "Oh no. You're not going to school today."  
"But Maaarth," Roy said, making an attempt to put his pants on without removing the covers, "I _can't_ miss school today."  
Marth wrestled Roy's pants off and placed them on the back of Roy's desk chair neatly.  
"_No_."  
"What are you now, my father?"

Marth stood up and walked over to the side of the bed. Making sure to sidestep the sick bucket, he pulled the covers up to Roy's chest and gave him a kiss on the forehead.  
"If you want me to be."  
"That was the creepiest thing I've ever heard, next to Uncle Sain trying to talk to me about girls when I was ten."  
Marth cleared his throat.  
"Anyway, I have to be going... I'll check up on you during lunch time, all right? Don't die while I'm gone." Marth ruffled his hair.  
"I'll try not to."

Without thinking, Marth kissed Roy again, but this time it was on the mouth. It was an innocent and simple kiss, and it caught both of them off guard--Roy didn't expect it and Marth didn't realise what he was doing until Roy pulled away.  
"What was that for?" Roy asked as he looked at the blue headed prince quizzically.  
Marth blushed, shrugged, and got out of the room as fast as possible. Roy just shook his head, blamed it on Marth's mental state, and tried to go back to sleep.

-x-

"Mr. Pickél, I have some shocking news," Mewtwo said as he read over a piece of paper.  
"Did Lassie fall down the well again? Goddamn!" Nicholas shouted, slamming his fist against the top of the desk.  
"No, no, your dog is fine," Mewtwo answered. "It turns out that you have to show up in court later today because your biological father wants you back or something, and your adoptive parents are fighting it."  
"But I'm _not_ adopted."  
Mewtwo sighed.  
"Well, according to your birth certificate, your name is Nicholas Leon Redfield."

Gary turned around and sneered, and Nicholas had to resist the urge to punch him in the face.  
"...So my brother isn't Doug and my parents aren't Sharyn and Tom?"  
Mewtwo nodded.  
"That is correct. Your parents are actually named Christopher and Jill."  
Stephen was in the back of the room sharpening his pencil and eying the shag carpet.  
"Umm, Mewtwo-sensei? When are you getting out of the 70s and joining 2007?"  
Mewtwo snapped his pencil and threw it in the garbage.  
"Shag is coming back into style."  
"Yeah, if you live in a time warp," Stephen replied, walking back to his desk.

Marth was reading FAKE, unaware of the fact that Dee and Ryo were gay for each other, when he turned the page and saw the two making out. Blushing, he flipped past it and continued reading.  
"All right, let's do roll call," Mewtwo said, taking the list out.  
"Alvarez-san?"  
"Hai," Stephen said, talking to Nicholas via Pictochat.  
"Carp-san?"  
"Hai," Kweenetra said, not looking up from the Spencer/Ashley story she was writing.  
"Lowell-san?"

Marth was too engrossed in the hot Dee/Ryo action to hear his name.  
"Lowell-san wa doko desu ka," Mewtwo asked, wondering where Marth was.  
"Right in front of me," Stephen said, pointing to the red faced Alteaen prince in front of him.  
"Huh?" Marth asked, nearly dropping his manga in the process.  
"You're here, are you not?" Mewtwo asked, his head leaning against his hand.  
"Yes, I'd like to think so," Marth replied, and Mewtwo marked him in.  
"Mekkai-san?"  
Link waved his hand around in the air and shouted "Hai" a little _too_ enthusiastically. Mewtwo marked him "in school".  
"Pherae-san?"  
There was silence.  
"Keseki desu ne," Mewtwo mused, and marked Roy absent. "Is he all right? I believe I heard something from Zelda saying he wasn't feeling well..."

Nicholas and Gary were shooting daggers at each other, their stares icy. Nicholas plotted his death, Gary plotted revenge, and they both smiled evilly when they thought of the other's ruination. Stephen, who sat in front of Nicholas and behind Gary, was oblivious to their silent loathing. Instead, he played Animal Crossing.  
"Redfield-san?"  
Nicholas, forgetting his last name was no longer Pickél, didn't answer.  
"Nicholas-kun...?"  
"Hai," Nicholas answered, drawing up plans to try to kill Gary in the most painful ways possible.  
"Last and least, Wesker-san."  
Gary grunted in response and finally turned around after Mewtwo threatened to strangle him using his entrails as the ligature.

-x-

Marth walked, books in hand, to the locker rooms near the health, sex education, and driver's education classrooms. When he came to the door, he saw, in big lettering, a sign that said, "Important Notice! Please make sure to wash your hands after every physical education period!" Marth, wondering why people wouldn't do that anyway, turned the door knob and opened the door wide enough for him to squeeze through.

Marth walked over to his locker, unlocked it, and pulled out a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a dark green tank top. Throwing them over the door of his locker, he pulled his pants off and, folding them neatly, placed them in his small locker. Seeing the guys staring at his boxer-clad ass, he quickly pulled his sweatpants on and retreated further into the corner of the locker row from people's eyes.

Once he was finished changing, he closed the locker and clicked the lock closed. He crossed his arms and pushed the door open with his leg, walked up the stairs, and went through the door to the gymnasium. Shawn caught sight of the swordsman and looked away with a sneer. Marth merely went past him and took a seat on the bench.  
"All right," Mr. Falcon said, grade book in hand. "Today, we're doing the pacer test." As Mr. Falcon talked, he looked up and down the bench and took attendance.  
"What's the pacer test?" someone asked, their hand raised.  
Mr. Falcon laughed loudly and threw his grade book on the floor with a huge thud.  
"The pacer test is when you go from point a to point b as many times as you can, getting progressively faster after every ten laps." The student nearly fainted when Falcon said, "Don't worry, you'll have to listen to a tape."

Falcon led them to the other side of the gym and gestured to the blue line.  
"This is your starting point," Falcon explained, and pointed to the one on the other side of the gym area. "And that's your end point. From here to there and vise versa, it's one lap." The members of the class gulped and said things such as "Oh man, I can't do this," and "You're just being a big baby," and so forth. Marth wasn't too worried; he had done much worse back when he was a kid.  
"All right, make sure you pay attention to the tape," Falcon said as he pressed "play" on the Sony CD player.  
"Oh, and Mr. Lowell...please remove your jewelry." Marth forgot he was even still wearing his headpiece, and removed it from his hair. He gave it to Mr. Falcon for safe keeping and stretched a bit in preparation for running.

The first twenty laps were easy--many could walk fast and still make it to the line with some time left over. Marth wasn't breaking a sweat even, and he wasn't even jogging. One of the guys had to sit out after three laps due to his being extremely out of shape and unable to walk more than five feet without being out of breath.  
It was when lap thirty five came around that many dropped out, and Marth still wasn't sweating, and he was in a light jog still. He and four other people were the only ones left, and they were starting to pant harder.

"Fifty four."  
Marth and Shawn were the only ones left, and Shawn was showing some signs of slowing down. Marth, who could run one hundred laps if he really wanted to, was speeding up slightly. Everyone else was practically on the ground in a faint and watched them in awe. How could two people last over fifty laps was beyond them.  
"Sixty two."  
Shawn was panting hard and barely able to keep up with Marth, but he managed to somehow. Marth was beginning to really sweat now, and the pressure was on. Shawn looked at him with a look that said, "I'm challenging you. I'm gonna win." Marth, who was taught to always put his hardest into everything he did, accepted the challenge and ran as fast as he could.

"Eighty."  
Shawn suddenly stopped--his legs refused to carry him any longer, and Marth ran right past him.  
"Let's see," Falcon said, looking for Shawn's name on his list. "That would be eighty laps for you. Good job, Shawn." Shawn glared at Marth's back and spat on the ground.  
Marth had to practically skid in order to stop from the built up momentum, and nearly plowed into the wall behind Mr. Falcon.

"Good job, Marth," Falcon said, writing the score down, "you did one hundred and ten. That's a new record, too." Marth was kneeling down on the ground against the wall.  
_Eat that_, Marth thought. _Eat it big time_.

-x-

Marth was surprised to see Link in the Chorus room before the bell rang, but figured that perhaps Link had turned over a new leaf or something. Walking over to his usual seat, he sat down and took out his lunch. The door slammed shut as Zelda emerged from her office and walked over to her chair in front of the piano.  
"Ms. Harkinian," one of the students said as they stood in the doorway, "are you aware of the fact that the door is completely off of the top hinge?"  
"I am now," Zelda replied, thumbing through "I'll Be Home for Christmas". "I should probably call Mr. Six one of these days and get that fixed."

Link stuffed his sandwich in his mouth and nearly choked from the large portion he swallowed. Marth shook his head and bit into his apple, licking up the juice that came from it.  
"You must be hungry," Zelda said, cup of diet Pepsi in her hands. Link nodded and swallowed what he was chewing so he wouldn't choke.  
"Yeah, I missed breakfast because of Mini-Me," he replied, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his blazer. Marth and Zelda frowned at Link's apparent lack of table manners, and Link stared at them.  
"What?"  
Zelda closed her eyes and sighed whereas Marth wordlessly handed Link a napkin.  
"Peach forgot to give me one," Link remarked as he placed it on his lap.

"I thought you had fifth period lunch," Zelda said to Marth, placing her decaffeinated beverage on the piano as she did so.  
"...I do," he replied, taking another chunk out of his apple. "I just don't feel like eating then, so I eat here." Zelda decided to not discuss the topic any further and sat back in her chair.  
"Hey Ms. H, did you know the door is--"  
"Yes, Shyam, I know. It's broken. Someone told me all ready."  
"Oh, okay," the boy named Shyam said as he sat down two seats away from Marth. "What are we doing today?"  
"Singing," Zelda replied, thumbing through "Antiphonal Deck the Hall" as she did so. "This is a chorus class after all."  
"Cool. What are we singing then?"  
Zelda looked up from the manuscript and shook her head.  
"Songs," Zelda replied once again. "This is, like I said before, a chorus class."

A few minutes later, Shyam was talking to Link about states and capitals.  
"The capital of New York," Link read from the index card. "What is it?"  
"New York City," Shyam replied, smiling. Link, Marth, and Zelda just stared at him.  
"Um, no," Marth interjected, leaning back in his seat, "the capital of New York is Albany."  
"But it can't be," Shyam argued, "New York City is so much bigger than Albany!"  
Marth decided to not argue with what was apparently not Earth Logic.  
"Whatever you say," Link replied, and took the sheet music that was being handed out.  
"I hate this song," was all the blond said after that.

-x-

"See you later, Marth," Link said as he and Marth parted ways in front of the boys' bathroom near the Chorus room. Marth waved and went over to his locker to get his books for sixth to eighth periods, along with some of Roy's things, and placed them in his book bag. Satisfied he had everything, he closed and locked his locker, rounded the corner, and went down the stairs to the third floor of the old building. Grabbing a copy of the local magazine "Nintendo Super Powerz" from the desk in the front hall, he walked out the front door and went on his merry way to the Manse.

Opening the front door to the Manse, he was bombarded by really loud Finnish metal music from the second floor. Dropping off his book bag and removing Roy's things, he walked up the stairs and over into the male dormitory hall. As he approached the room he and Roy shared, the music grew louder until he felt the floor vibrating.  
Opening the door, he poked his head into the room and saw Roy passed out on his bed, writing notebook on his stomach, pencil in hand, headphones on his ears. The music wasn't coming from him, but from the people next door, Marth figured. Bowser was always quite loud with his music habits.

He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge nearest Roy. Marth really never paid much attention to what Roy looked like when he was sleeping, but looking at him now, Marth thought he looked like an angel--if angels had red hair, that is. Marth mentally slapped himself as his eyes gazed at the pale flesh of his torso--his shirt rode up enough to give Marth a nice view.  
_He needs to eat more_, Marth noted, and he poked Roy in the thigh.  
"Roy." Marth moved from poking his thigh to poking his stomach. Roy groaned and turned over, the notebook falling onto the empty space next to him.  
"Roy," Marth said a little louder. He gently pulled back one of the ear pieces and whispered in his ear, "Wake up, Roy."

Roy turned over and wrapped his arms around Marth's neck. The top half of Marth's body fell forward and on top of Roy, and the prince turned the colour of Roy's hair from the close contact.  
"Mr. Bunny doesn't want to wake up," Roy muttered as he nuzzled into the pillow more. Marth glanced over to the purple coloured stuffed rabbit Roy dubbed "Mr. Bunny" on the other side of the bed.  
"Roy," Marth said, trying to disentangle himself from the red head, "I don't care if Mr. Bunny doesn't want to wake up. _You_, on the other hand...need to let go and get yourself up." Roy suddenly let go and Marth fell onto the floor. The thud Marth made caused the windows to rattle and Roy to nearly have a heart attack.

"Wha' 'ust 'appened?" Roy asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes with his hand. "Marth?" Roy called, leaning over the side of the bed, "What're you doing on the floor?"  
Marth rubbed his thigh and sat up.  
"I fell," he replied. "What're you doing in bed still?"  
Roy stretched and cracked his back.  
"Well, I didn't really get much sleep, and it's my day off so..."  
Marth was on the bed by this time.  
"Cherish it, Roy. You won't get Saturday off much in the near future," Marth replied.

"So what brings you here?" Roy asked, sitting up on his knees. "I thought we had a full day today."  
"We do," Marth replied. "But I told you I'd check up on you on my lunch break. So here I am."  
Roy looked at the pile of books on the table at the foot of the bed.  
"Whose books are those?"  
Marth leaned closer to Roy.  
"Yours."  
Roy sighed and leaned back, his knees bent and his legs crossed at the shins.  
"Oh, it's not as bad as you think," Marth said, laying down next to Roy. "It's only for two classes." He wrapped his arms around Roy's waist.

"You need to eat more, you're about as thin as a stick," Marth commented playfully.  
"I'd say the same about you," Roy replied. "Hey! You're on Mr. Bunny's leg!" Marth quickly moved Mr. Bunny so that he wasn't being squished.  
"Well, he's kind of small," Marth said. "It's easy to squish him."  
"Your stuffed elephant is easy to squish," Roy remarked, poking Marth in the shoulder.  
"Toshizou is not easy to squish! Besides, he squeaks when you squeeze him, so you'd know if you sat on him or something."

Roy and Marth ended up having a mock-wrestling match on Roy's bed over whose stuffed animal was easier to sit on when Marth ended up in a compromising position.  
"You _like_ being in between my legs, don't you," Roy mused and Marth blushed.  
"No! No I don't! How dare you think I d--"  
"Then you would've moved by now."  
Marth leaned in closer until their faces were inches apart.  
"Well at least I don't listen to Romanian boy bands," Marth retorted.  
"The one guy sounds like you," Roy said, getting off topic.  
"Does not!" Marth argued, pinning Roy's wrists to either side of his pillow.  
"He does too!" Roy fired back, trying to free himself from the bed.

"Shut up!" Marth said as serious as he could muster.  
"No, _you_ shut--mmm..."  
Marth silenced Roy with a kiss on the mouth.  
"That's the second time," Roy said when they pulled apart, "that you've done that today."  
"I am quite aware," Marth replied as he sat on Roy's thighs. "And you haven't objected to it at all, either." Roy caught Marth's smirk and replied, "What choice did I have? You held my wrists to the bed."  
"You could've bit me or something."

This time Roy was the one who kissed Marth to shut him up.

-x-

"You look flustered."  
Marth nearly dropped his school books on his foot.  
"I am _not_ flustered," Marth said, placing his books upright on his shelf. Link leaned against the adjacent locker.  
"_Sure_ you aren't," Link replied, unconvinced. "Did something happen between you and your girlfriend or something?" Before Marth could say anything, Link said, "No, it couldn't've been Sheeda 'cause you wouldn't be this flustered."  
While Link was thinking of all the people Marth was in contact with throughout the day, Marth took the opportunity to run as fast as he could to AP Physics.

"Is it Roy? ...Marth, where'd you go?" Link noticed that the hallways weren't as crowded as they were before and realised that he would be late for English class.

-x-

_I am having the biggest crisis of my life_, Marth thought, not paying any attention whatsoever in his AP Physics class.  
"It's nice to have you back," Ian said as he passed by Marth's desk. "Our class is just a wee bit on the 'broken bulb' side when you're not here."  
"Thanks?" Marth said, unsure of whether that was a compliment or an insult. Ian took his place in the seat diagonal from Marth and talked to the guy in front of him.  
_Of course this has to happen _after_ I get married_. Marth propped his head up with his hand and flipped to an empty section of his notebook.  
_Are these repressed feelings or something? I'm so confused..._

The teacher, Mr. Koopa, talked about inertia and gravity and force while Marth zoned out some more and contemplated his current situation. He cared about Roy, that was a given, but as a _friend_. Or that was what Marth was trying to convince himself of, anyway.  
_Roy probably thinks it's all in good fun_, Marth thought as he wrote down the notes on the projector. _He probably doesn't think I'm serious. I _hope _he thinks I'm not serious._

What Marth didn't register was the fact that _Roy_ was the one who initiated the last kiss.

-x-

"Tomorrow's Halloween," Link said cheerfully, fingers pulling on his book bag straps. "We can dress up for school, too."  
"So I heard on the announcements," Marth replied, lost in thought.  
"...Something's on your mind," Link said, suddenly serious.  
"It's nothing," Marth said, trying to brush Link off. Link wouldn't have it and pressed on.  
"It's _something_, you mean." Marth stopped Link from nearly getting hit by a car.  
"I said it was nothing."  
Link crossed his arms.  
"Oh please. You've been acting like this since you visited Roy during your lunch break." Marth tried to hide his blush as he remembered.  
"So it _is_ Roy," Link said and smirked. Marth scowled.  
"Yeah, it is, now drop it," Marth said, examining the changing leaves as they walked on home.

There was a lull in the conversation, and Marth made it look like he wasn't open to any sort of conversing. That didn't stop Link, of course.  
"You like him, don't you?"  
Marth scoffed and waved his hand as if to dismiss the thought.  
"Roy and I are _friends_. Besides, he and I are both guys."  
Link shrugged.  
"That doesn't matter."  
"Okay," Marth said, trying to come up with more excuses. "What about the age difference? He's only fifteen and I'm eighteen."  
"Three years between you two isn't going to hurt anyone."

Another lull in the conversation. The Manse was coming into view, which meant they were a block and a half away.  
"You're confused about how you feel, aren't you?"  
Marth nodded as they both stopped at the streetlight.  
"There's no shame in how you feel, you know."  
"Oh yes there is," Marth replied. "There's a major problem."  
"Don't worry about what society thinks and what your people will say and--"  
"No," Marth said, cutting Link off, "it's not my people or society I care about. That's not the problem."  
"Then what _is_ the problem?" Link and Marth began crossing the street, the Manse becoming bigger and bigger.  
"I'm _married_."

Link kicked a soda can, the metal scraping against the pavement as it bounced and rolled.  
"Well, I guess that's a problem, especially since you just came back from your honeymoon and all," Link said, not looking at the blue headed prince.  
"This sucks," Marth said as they walked up the gravel driveway.  
"Indeed, it does."

-x-

Marth undid his tie and placed it on the hook next to his bed. Roy was in the bathroom having a nice shower, and Marth had to take his mind off it by organising the mess all over the floor. He took off his blazer and placed it on the back of his desk chair, and unbuttoned the first three buttons of his shirt.  
"There, all nice and neat," Marth said, placing Toshizou right on his pillow.  
"The floors are so clean I can see my reflection in them."  
Marth nearly jumped off his bed when Roy came up behind him.  
"Roy! You scared the living crap out of me!"

Roy went over to his armoire and pulled out a pair of clean pants and a shirt. Marth was making sure Roy didn't move around enough so that the towel around his waist fell down.  
"You're acting funny," Roy remarked as he went into the bathroom to put his pants on.  
"Oh?" Marth said, acting as if he had no idea what Roy was talking about. "How do you mean?"  
"Well," Roy said as he came back into the room and threw his wet towel in the laundry, "you've been acting all...flustered."  
Marth ran a hand through his hair and sighed.  
"Everyone's been saying that lately." Roy was rummaging for a pair of clean socks in his underwear drawer, random articles of clothing occasionally being pushed or thrown out of the drawer.

"Well...what's been making you all flustered?" The red head leaned against the drawers as he put his socks on. "You can tell me."  
Marth shrugged.  
"To be honest, I don't know." It was a lie, Roy and Marth both knew that, but neither said anything.  
"Well, if you ever find out what's causing it...you can come to me." Roy sat down on his bed and pulled his shirt on. For a brief second, Marth had thoughts of his hands raking over the pale flesh, his hand pulling his shirt off...

"Hello? Marth?"  
"Huh?" Marth blinked thrice and let out a cry of surprise to find the red head right in his face.  
"I _said_, do you want some ice cream?"  
"You sure that's a good idea?" Marth asked.  
"It'd be great for my throat," Roy said, "it's all scratchy and hoarse and it _hurts_."  
Marth smiled.  
"I know something that can fix that." Roy crossed his arms.  
"And what's that?"  
Marth smirked.  
"Honey."

With that, Marth wrapped an arm around Roy's shoulder and led him out of the dormitories and to the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Four-**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. All things featured in this fic belong to their respective owners. Seriously, there's too much to list here. I only created Nicholas, Gary, Stephen, and Kweenetra. Also, Nintenpod doesn't exist. It's like "what if Nintendo made an iPod like device?".

-x-

"_Kick off your stilettos  
kick off your stilettos  
and fuck me in the backseat  
fuck me in the backseat_."

Marth knew from the one time he had to use Roy's computer that his music tastes were very eclectic, but he never expected to be woken up to some song about screwing people in the backseat of their car. Or, when he sat up in his bed, to see Roy half naked and dancing around to it while going about his morning routine.

"_This is how the beat drops  
this is how the beat drops (I wanna see your panties drop girl)_."

Marth swung his legs over the side of his bed and ran to the bathroom as quickly as he could, shutting the door behind him.  
_Roy was half _naked, Marth thought, looking in the mirror and turning the faucet of the sink on. The knobs squeaked when he turned them, the water ice cold.  
_I wonder what his father thinks of his music tastes_.  
The music was still going on when Marth exited the facilities, but Roy wasn't prancing around the room in his underwear. Instead, the red head was brushing his hair and mouthing the words.

"Marth! Roy! What the hell's going on in there?" Marth could barely make out whose voice was on the other side of the door over the music, and Roy didn't even hear it. He just went over to computer, pressed a few buttons on his computer, and moved the mouse over to some destination on the monitor.  
"Hello?! Is anyone _home_?!"  
Roy turned the music off and turned around to see the swing open and bang against the wall adjacent.  
"Whose music was _that_?" Link asked as he attempted to tie his shoe while balancing on his other leg. "And why was it so loud?"  
"Mine," Roy replied, grabbing his keys from his desk and pocketing them. His eyes looked Link up and down and a puzzled expression appeared on his face.  
"What are you _wearing_?"

Link readjusted his wig and shook a finger in Roy's face.  
"You mean to tell me you don't know what day it is?"  
Roy glanced at Marth, who was just as confused as Roy, and then stared at Link.  
"I never know what day it is," Roy sarcastically replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Link rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around Roy's shoulder.  
"It's _Halloween_," the blond said, leaning closer to Roy. Roy looked at the calendar on his computer and saw that, yes, it was Halloween.

"And I want you to dress up with me!" Link said, pumping his fist into the air and nearly knocking Roy over. "I even have outfits for you guys."  
Roy and Marth didn't like the sound of that, but curiosity got the better of them. Link gestured for them to follow him, and so Marth and Roy took hesitant and tentative steps to Link's "humble abode" as he called it. Marth and Roy figured they could make a break for it if it were too bad.

The Smashers on the second floor of the male dormitory wondered who was screaming so loudly.

-x-

Roy opened the door to the Manse and was greeted by a gust of cold air. A shiver ran up his spine from it, and so he pulled his jacket closed as much as he could. Marth followed close behind, nearly shutting the door in Link's face.  
"What demon possessed him to think it was a good idea for us to dress up together?" Marth asked, rummaging through his book bag for his gloves.  
"It's not _that_ bad, Marth," Roy replied, his breath visible in the air as he exhaled.  
"Yes it is," Marth angrily replied, his voice low. "Do you realise how much hair spray is in my hair right now? It's defying gravity!"

Roy quickly scanned the outfits they were wearing and came to a bleak realisation.  
"Marth," Roy said, pulling on the unhappy swordsman's sleeve, "we're dressed as people from a BL anime."  
Marth stopped suddenly and Link went crashing right into him, the book he was reading gave him a papercut, and Roy had to turn away so Marth wouldn't see the red head's bad attempt at trying to hide his laughter.  
"You've got to be _kidding_ me!" the bluenette protested, his hands balling into fists. "Which one is this?"  
Roy coughed and calmed himself down before answering.  
"...I don't remember the original title, but I know it means 'I like what I like and it can't be helped' or something like that."

Marth paled, spun on his heel, and faced Link.  
"You made us dress like characters from _Sukisho_?!"  
Link put his hands up in defence in case Marth decided it would be a good idea to smack him upside the head.  
"Yes, I did," Link said, "And you really fit your characters well."  
Before anything else could be said, Link walked a few steps ahead of them before he quickened his pace and ran as fast as he could, Marth coming after him, and Roy trying to keep Marth under control the whole time.

-x-

Mewtwo was sipping his mocha latte while grading papers last minute, the red pen marking "F" after "F" after "D minus". Stephen, dressed as Stefan from Souen no Kiseki, was playing Solitaire on his Nintenpod, his eyes glazed over as he moved the Queen of Hearts over to the King of Spades. He looked up from his game to the sounds of a dispute coming closer and closer to the classroom, and contemplated going out into the hallway and telling them, as politely as he could, for them to just "shut the fuck up!". In the end, he decided against it simply because it was none of his business and he was being extremely lazy.

"I didn't take your goddamned lunch money!" resounded throughout the corridor. Students popped their heads out of their classroom doorways, many stopped opening their lockers or retrieving things inside them to turn and see what was going on.  
"You did too, Redfield!" the person replied, his anger apparent in the fact that he spat the boy's last name out.  
"I did _not_, Wesker." The boy's voice was low, his stare icy. Neither of them wanted to back down.  
"Shut up, Redfield!"  
"You first, Wesker!"

Stephen was fed up with the childish banter; he walked out of the classroom, waltzed right up to the arguing "couple", tapped them on the shoulders, and said, "Shut the fuck up!" as loud and as angry as he could.  
Nicholas and Gary stopped mid-sentence and mid-scuffle, blinked, and stared at the angry ashen-blond classmate.  
"That's better," Stephen said as he turned on his heel and walked back to room 221, muttering about how people just "need to grow the crap up".  
"I still hate you," Nicholas said as he glared at Gary.  
"Likewise," the platinum blond boy replied, sticking his tongue out.  
"I'll rip that out of your mouth if you'd like," Nicholas offered, making a cutting-with-scissors motion with his index and middle fingers, a smirk on his face.  
"No, thank you."

On the floor above, Marth and Link were in their own argument.  
"There are dents in my locker door!" Marth said, pointing to them. "They're as plain as day!"  
"And I'm telling you," Link said as calmly as he could, "that I didn't put them there!"  
"Roy doesn't kick my locker," Marth explained, gesturing to the sitting red head beside him. "And _I_ don't kick it. And you were pissed as hell Saturday before eighth period. And I _saw_ you kick it!"  
Link turned away from the bluenette.  
"Do you know how many people kick the lockers? They could've been there from the previous owner, you know."  
"I've had this locker for four years."  
"So did the person previous to you."

Roy was staring blankly at the wall.  
"Will you two stop fighting, get over it, and make up? You're giving me a splitting headache," Roy said, head leaning against his hand.  
Marth and Link looked at each other, sighed, and fell to the floor in a slump. Roy took out his Nintenpod, put one of the earphones in his ear, and scrolled down to the song that was playing earlier. Marth jumped slightly when Roy leaned against his shoulder, the other earpiece lying on the floor, vibrating from the sounds of the bass.

"_Pulled up at a stoplight, did drugs on the dashboard  
Look at the mess we made tonight_."  
Link was writing up plans for Battle of the Bands, thinking of various ways to try and get Marth and Roy involved with him. He was also writing down various band names for the group he was planning on making. So far, all he had was "The Golden Boys". Not letting that deter him, and wrote down possible songs they would do as well. Link once saw a Backstreet Boys music video, where they were wearing white dress shirts and water was spraying everywhere, and ever since then, he had wanted to do something exactly like that. He grinned goofily as he wrote down '"Larger than Life" by BSB' under "Possible Songs".

"_Kick off your stilettos  
kick off your stilettos  
and fuck me in the backseat  
fuck me in the backseat_."  
Marth wanted to know why Roy listened to trashy music like whatever he was listening to. He understood its catchiness (it was a techno song after all), but it was about having sex in someone's car. He thought it didn't teach very good morals. He turned his head and saw Roy writing in the notebook he always carried around with him. Marth was always rather curious about what Roy wrote about in it, but he never peeked and he never asked. He figured it was none of his business. He was probably writing to his family at home or something. He sighed and leaned his head against the top of Roy's; the red head didn't move and didn't seem to mind it.

Marth had been told that writing was very therapeutic and good for one's soul, and since he had a lot of soul searching to do, he figured he'd start a journal or a diary--though he thought of diaries as some fluffy and pink covered notebook with the words "Princess" on it and that they belonged to little girls. He figured it would be easier to fix his "problem" if he wrote it down, maybe even talked about it...  
Without meaning to, he caught sight of what Roy was scribbling down--his handwriting wasn't the neatest thing in the world, but it was legible enough--and was puzzled.

Roy wrote down _everything_. "Everything" meaning everything that went on, whether it concerned him or not. Marth was pretty sure that, if he went back far enough, he'd find Saturday's entry.  
Saturday was _that_ day. The day where he kissed Roy not once, but twice. Of his own initiation, anyway.  
He sincerely hoped that Roy wasn't recording everything and anything for his father. Marth would rather commit Seppuku with his ballpoint pen than let Lord Eliwood read about Roy kissing another male, not once and not twice, but _three times_.

He came to the conclusion that, while Roy was sleeping or preoccupied, he'd have to take the journal and read through it to see if there was anything incriminating. There was probably nothing to worry about, but Marth was slightly paranoid.  
Which brought Marth to wonder whether Roy had ever been kissed before. It wasn't like Marth wanted to _think_ about all of these things, but he did anyway. Marth was a rather curious prince, but he didn't usually shove his nose where it didn't belong. And he didn't want to ask Roy about it, because Marth realised that it was a rather personal question. Then again, Marth had asked him plenty of personal questions before...

Marth Lowell was, to put it lightly, quite confused at his current predicament.

Roy was, of course, smarter than Marth gave him credit for, and had some clue as to how Marth felt. He didn't say anything, of course, because maybe it was a custom in Altea to kiss another man on the mouth. Roy didn't want to seem ignorant, after all, and so he just didn't say anything. Roy shrugged and continued writing. Marth didn't make him feel awkward in the least, but that was because Roy was used to strange customs--the people in the Lycia Alliance Army were from different parts of the continent, after all.  
These things were the parts of the entry he was putting in his journal. It was for himself and himself alone, not for his father, not for Marcus, not for Lilina...not for Marth. Not for anyone. It was for himself.

Roy Pherae was as confused as Marth was about how he felt. But at least he wasn't married.

"It's too quiet here! I can't take it!" Link shouted as he threw his pen and paper down onto the floor. He stood up, shouted incoherently (to Roy and Marth, anyway), kicked the wall, and then inhaled deeply as he calmed down. Link looked the two Fire Emblem boys over and grinned at the compromising position: Marth's arm was around Roy's shoulder, Roy's head was against Marth's shoulder, Marth's head was against Roy's... They were all nice and comfy-cozy. Link took out his camera and took a picture of it for later--you never know when you need some good ol' blackmail. Who knows? Maybe he could use the picture to get them to join his band for the Battle of the Bands competition...

Link Mekkai was very confident in his plans. Very, very, _very_ confident indeed.

-x-

"Goddammit!"  
Marth was greeted to the sounds of Stephen yelling at his Nintenpod.  
"Stupid Queen of Spades! Now I can't get the one card I need to win this game!"  
Marth, figuring that Stephen was off his medication that day, walked past him and over to his own desk, which had various scribblings on it from the Zero Period class. The scribbles were one of the reasons the Japanese Programme was going up against the Latin Programme. That and they took the classroom and pretty much messed it up. Roy slammed his books onto his desk, plopped his book bag onto the floor next to his desk, and sat on the arm rest portion of the desk.

Something wasn't right.  
"Since when did I have a left handed desk?" Roy asked, pointing to the reversed arm rest. "I'm not left handed."  
"The Latin class must have forgotten to change it," Mewtwo said, still grading papers. The bells were late today, the psychic figured, since it was past 8:25 and they hadn't rung yet. He sighed; the school was just so...Mewtwo couldn't even think of an appropriate word for the injustice of it all. Except for "injustice of it all".  
_The school is just so crappy.  
_That sounded about right, he thought. But nothing could get the students out of his non-existent hair.

Nicholas was playing his black and red DS while listening to his Nintenpod. He was too busy slaying zombies and headbanging to Cradle of Dust to notice that Gary was making plans to inject the T-Virus into him and make Nicholas his Zombie Servant. Nicholas moved when Gary was about to inject him, and ended up hitting Stephen instead.

Stephen was not happy.

"Will you two stop acting like five year olds and just ignore each other if you hate each other that much?!" Stephen removed the syringe from his arm before Gary Stu Wesker had a chance to press down on the plunger.  
"Jesus God, I friggin hate both of you."  
Gary crossed his arms and turned forward in his seat, deciding to ignore the brunette whom he hated _so much_. Like father, like son.

Roy had switched the seats and was now happily content. He wrote more in his notebook, and Marth watched him out of boredom.  
"_Can you take me higher_?" was the lyric Marth heard clear-as-day from Roy's Nintenpod.  
_He's going to go deaf if he keeps it at that volume_, Marth thought. He twirled a pen with his fingers in an attempt to cure his boredom, but it only made it worse.  
_...I didn't even know Roy _liked_ Creed_.

So Mr. Bartholo Mewtwo-sensei's Second Year Japanese Class sat there and did nothing, for the bell didn't ring until the period had about five minutes left.  
"Why the hell'd they even _bother_?" Mewtwo muttered as he looked through the Nintendo Land Times. As usual, there was nothing interesting in it, other than how a three family house caught on fire. He turned the page and found the Sports section, which had the latest Melee Tournament results.  
Well, Mewtwo all ready knew about the results. He decided that the paper was not worth the buck he paid for it if all it did was tell him stuff he all ready knew.

The rest of the class got up and left for second period.

-x-

"Sweet Din," Link said as he and Roy walked to their fourth period class, "I couldn't wait for Gym to end."  
"Me either," Roy replied, holding his books to his chest.  
"So I have a great idea for Battle of the Bands..."  
Roy looked at the wig-wearing blond with a look that said, "If you involve me in this, I will beat you."  
"If it involves fire and explosives like _last year_," Roy said, looking at the floor, "you can count me out. I don't feel like getting burned and then going home and having my father wonder what the heck happened to me again."  
Link waved the incident Roy described away with wave of his hand.  
"It wasn't _that_ bad," Link said, acting as though Roy's shirt sleeve being engulfed in flames was nothing to worry about.  
"Try telling that to my father."

Link pulled Roy close as they rounded the corner of the third floor new building hallway.  
"Your father likes to overreact." Roy gently pushed Link off of him and brushed himself off.  
"You've never even _met_ him, how would you know how he's like?"  
Link nearly walked into the radiator.  
"Because of how you describe him."  
"...How do I define him?"  
Link took half a second to decode what Roy had said before saying, "He seems like a nice guy, but he worries way too much. That's the vibe I'm getting."  
Roy said nothing in reply; he shifted his shoulder so that his book bag wouldn't fall off.

"You know, I never realised how weird you talk," Link said as they approached the section of the hallway where their Chorus class was.  
"...Excuse me?"  
Link moved his arms into an "I really don't know how to explain it" gesture.  
"Instead of using the word 'describe', you use the word 'define', for example. And sometimes your sentences make no sense at all."  
Roy was thinking of how he could properly explain the whole thing.  
"...Pheraean doesn't have a word for 'describe'," Roy said, figuring it was simple enough. "We use the word for 'define' instead. Sometimes my speech mannerisms show up in my English. I can't help it."  
"Sure you can," Link said as he walked into their Chorus classroom, room 311N. "You just have to be more conscious of what you're saying."

Roy threw his books onto his desk.  
"I _am_ conscious of what I say," Roy said, putting his bag onto the seat of his desk. He unzipped it and rummaged through it for his pen. "It just doesn't sound incorrect to me right away."  
Link sat down in his seat, which was next to Roy's.  
"So make it sound incorrect."  
Roy gave him a funny look.  
"I...really don't know how you explain it," Link admitted as he attempted to free his wig from one of the chair legs.  
"Don't you think that wig's a little...long?" Roy asked as he slid into his seat. Link dismissed his question.  
"Nah. Matsuri's hair's about this long, give or take a few inches. Speaking of wigs, why aren't you wearing _yours_?" Link grabbed a section of Roy's hair and examined it.  
"'Cause your hair is no where near Sunao's length." Roy shrugged.  
"I didn't feel like wearing it. It was getting caught up on chairs and stuff."

Link looked at him disapprovingly.  
"You can look like a girl all you want," Roy said, his head being cradled by his arms, "but I'm not going down with you."  
Link's stare then moved to Roy's hair, and the imaginary light bulb appeared above his head.  
"You have enough hair in the back for a small pony tail..."  
Roy quickly sat up as soon as Link got near him.  
"Aren't nobles supposed to have short hair?" Roy gave him a weird look and crossed his arms.  
"No. My father's hair is about this long. One of the Etrurian nobles has hair longer than this... And my hair isn't _that_ long."  
"It's almost as long as Marth's."  
"So?"

The bell rang, and the Chorus room was practically deserted.  
"Where is everyone?" Link asked to no one in particular.  
"Perhaps there's a field trip?" Roy suggested, staring at the music manuscript opened on the piano stand.  
"More importantly," Link said as he unwrapped his ham and cheese sandwich, "where's Marth? He's usually here before the bell rings."  
Roy shrugged.  
"Maybe he had a counselour's appointment or he decided to buy lunch in the cafeteria today or something."

The door opened and in came Marth, panting and sputtering as he leaned against the wall next to the door to catch his breath.  
"Are you okay?" Link asked, part of the sandwich in his mouth.  
Marth nodded and he slid down the wall.  
"Why didn't anyone tell me there was a Fan Club of some sort dedicated to me?"  
Roy and Link exchanged glances before looking at Marth again.  
"...You have a Fan Club?" Roy asked, opening the small Tupperware container. "Oooh, boar meat stew." Link turned slightly green at Roy's lunch and turned so he didn't have to see it.  
"Yes," Marth said, pushing himself off the dirty floor. "I do."

_Who would blame them_? Roy thought. _Marth's not bad looking_.  
_Holy crap_, Roy's subconscious said, _you did not just say what I think you said. Tell me you didn't just say Marth's not bad looking.  
_Roy's overactive imagination conjured up an Angel Roy and a Devil Roy, on his right and left shoulders, respectively. Devil Roy poked his neck with his mini-pitch fork.  
"Are you insane?" Devil Roy said, not letting up on the poking, "...Although now that I see him, he's not that bad. I say you jump him!" Devil Roy had a mischievous grin plastered on his face. Angel Roy scoffed.  
"Don't listen to him!" Angel Roy said, pleading. His hands were clasped and he was on his knees. "He's not the most virtuous person to listen to, believe me. Loving a married man is a sin! Your father taught you better than that!"  
Devil Roy jumped onto Roy's right shoulder and put a hand over Angel Roy's mouth.  
"Don't listen to him, Roy!" Devil Roy said, wincing as Angel Roy tried to bite his hand. "If you want him, go for him!"  
Roy looked at the imaginary angels with a weird look.  
"But I don't know if I _like_ him. I just said he wasn't that bad looking! That doesn't mean I want to sleep with him or something!"

Link had moved as far away from Roy as possible, due to the possessed look in his eyes and the fact that he was talking to himself, although Link had reasoned that Roy was talking to Satan.  
_Do the people on Roy's continent even _believe_ in Satan_? Link wondered, and pondered all the possibilities as to how Roy got possessed. Marth watched as Roy clutched his head in pain and looked as if he were dealing with a temperamental child and he was the parent on his last nerve.

"You have some repressed feelings, methinks," Devil Roy said, jabbing Roy in the cheek. "You need to come to terms with parts of yourself."  
"Since when was a devil philosophical?" Roy asked, and Devil Roy just looked at him.  
"I'm trying to help you, man. Just go over there and kiss him. You _know_ you want to. Look at how tempting he is..."  
Roy stared at Marth, blushed, and then resumed staring at his desk.  
"You had no problems kissing him the other day..."  
Roy stared at Devil Roy with an "I'm getting tired of you" look.  
"I didn't mean anything by it!" he yelled. "At least, I don't _think_ I did. ...I'm so confused!"

All Marth heard was "I didn't mean anything by it!" and he wanted to know what inner demons Roy was confronting to spark an out-loud reaction. Link, meanwhile, was off in his own little world trying to figure out what kind of demon possessed Roy and how to exorcise it.

Angel Roy shoved Devil Roy out of the way.  
"What would your father think about you liking another man?"  
Roy thought for a moment.  
"Well, he once told me about his escapades in the library with Lord Hector when he was my age..."  
Angel Roy's virgin mind spontaneously combusted and he fainted. Devil Roy snickered.  
"Just go for it! You know you want to..."  
Roy gripped the desk in an attempt to fight it.  
"Who said you have to love him? There is such a thing as lust, you know..."  
Roy batted Devil Roy away with his hand, which was the last thing he remembered before everything went black.

"Roy!"  
He faintly heard someone calling his name, but the darkness took him by the hand and dragged him away from it.  
-x-

_Roy..._

Roy was standing on a cliff, an endless chasm beneath it. He looked behind him and saw an ashen black sky, no clouds at all, no sun, and no moon. It was just this cliff, himself, and an endless void of nothingness beneath him. He backed up from the edge, afraid of falling off. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

_...Wake up..._

Suddenly, a crack in the ground appeared right in front of him and the whole section of the cliff separated and broke off, falling away into the void of nothingness. His heart was pounding to the point of painfulness in his chest, his eyes wide. Was he going to end up in the void anyway? Where _was_ he...?

_...Roy..._

Then everything changed. Instead of a void of nothingness, it was filled with water. An endless chasm of water. He swore he saw the occasional fish swimming along, and wondered exactly where he was. Figuring it didn't matter, he hesitantly crawled over to the edge, stopping when he felt like another section of the cliff would break off, and stared at his reflection.  
_There _is_ no reflection_, Roy thought. He leaned over to judge the distance between him and the water when the ledge splintered and he fell.

_Roy... wake up now._

At least, he thought he did. He looked up and saw he was holding someone's hand. He couldn't make out whose hand it was, though, just that someone had saved him.  
"Roy," his rescuer said, the voice distorted sounding. Roy had a problem understanding him (at least, he thought it was a "him"), it sounded as if he was underwater. The figure's face was covered, and he leaned closer to the red head. He closed the distance between him and the general, his lips pressed against Roy's.  
"Wake up now, Roy," the figure said.  
"But I'm not asleep," Roy said, backing up a bit as the figure began to fade away.  
"I need you to wake up now."  
_But I'm not asleep_, Roy thought. _I'm not asleep_.

_...Roy..._

Roy.

"Roy... come on now, wake up."  
The red head covered his eyes with his forearm--it was way too bright in whatever room he was in. Someone shook him gently, the calloused hands were rough against his arm.  
The person sighed and looked at his watch. They had missed fifth and sixth periods, and he didn't want either of them to miss any more of the classes.  
"Roy! It's time for you to wake up!"

The person was about to bite him awake when Roy came to, his vision blurry and unfocused.  
"Why's the room shaking...?" Roy stuck his arm out as if to brace himself for a fall, and the figure sat Roy up, slowly.  
"...Marth?" Roy said when his vision had focused. Marth sat next to him on the bed, his hand feeling Roy's cheek and his forehead. "What...where am I?"  
"The nurse's," Marth replied. Roy raised an eyebrow.  
"...You fainted, so Zelda told me to take you to doctor Mario's to have you looked at. Your blood pressure was just high, is all," Marth explained. He held Roy close, not wanting him to get up for fear he'd get dizzy and pass out again.  
"...I had the weirdest dream," Roy said, shifting so he was right up against Marth. "I fell off this cliff and someone saved me from falling into the endless vat of water."  
Marth didn't know what to say.  
"Quite a strange dream," he said at last. Roy took Marth by the hand, and the two blushed faintly.  
"The person's hands were calloused," Roy recalled, thinking of the details. "They were calloused like yours."  
Marth rubbed Roy's shoulder, the part of his body he landed on when he fell out of his chair.  
"Anything else happen?"

There was a pause.  
"My rescuer kissed me and told me I needed to wake up." Roy leaned in closer to Marth and stared into his eyes.  
"What?" Marth said, moving his head slightly to keep some distance between them. "Are you saying _I_ was your rescuer?"  
Roy backed up.  
"Maybe," Roy hypothesized. "Kiss me."  
Marth thought he had a hearing problem.  
"...Pardon?"  
Roy pushed Marth up against the wall.  
"Kiss me," Roy said, his mouth mere centimetres away from Marth's. Marth had no where to go.  
"Why?" Marth asked, a light blush appearing on his cheeks. Roy sighed.  
"I want to see if you were my rescuer or not," Roy replied and smirked. "There's no one around."

Roy closed his eyes as soon as he felt Marth's lips press to his, and pushed him against the wall harder.  
_Roy, you bastard_.  
Roy pulled away just when Marth was getting into it and moved so he was on the opposite end of the bed.  
"Hmm," Roy said. "I don't know... I don't think you were the guy who rescued me in my dream," Roy said.  
_That is such a blatant lie_, Roy's subconscious said. And Roy didn't care.

He didn't expect Marth to kiss him again.

-x-

"Glad to see you're doing all right," Link said as he saw the red head by the locker he and Marth shared. Roy closed the locker door and sat down in front of it, waiting for Marth.  
"What'd I miss?" Roy asked, poking Link in the shoulder when the blond sat down next to him.  
"Not much. You can get the notes tomorrow, the teacher said," Link reported, fiddling around with his cell phone.  
"...Just to let you know," Link said, "there're rumours flying around the school that you and Marth were having a nice make out session in Doctor Mario's office." Roy stood up, pointed an accusing finger at Link, and shouted something in Pheraean at him.  
"I'm sorry?" Link asked, not understanding what Roy said.  
"_You're such a liar_, is what I said."  
Link put his hands up in defence.  
"I am not! Everyone in my class was talking about it." Roy was ready to throw something at someone.  
"Marth and I didn't do anything! He was just making sure I wasn't going to throw up or something."

Link cowered by the lockers, holding his binder over his head.  
"...So it wasn't a make out session?" Link meekly asked.  
Roy shook his head.  
"Why would Marth and I make out in the nurse's office? We'd go in the bathroom or something for that," Roy joked.  
"...Were you at least _kissing_ then?"  
Roy kneeled beside the blond and got up in his face.  
"Who told you?!" Roy whispered harshly in the blond's ear. Link's eyes widened, and Roy realised what he said.  
"...Shit," Roy said, and placed his head in his hands.  
"...You and Marth _kissed_?"  
Roy waved his hands downwards.  
"Be quiet about it, okay? No one can know about this."  
Link crossed his arms, his binder balanced on his head.  
"Roy, all of Melee Academy's gonna know about this by tomorrow morning."  
"All of Melee Academy's going to know about what?"

Roy turned around and Link looked up to see Marth, book bag in hand, with a facial expression that said, "You'd better not be talking about me behind my back".  
"Oh! Nothing!" Roy said, standing up. Link nodded his head vigourously.  
"...Right. Well, can I please get to my locker?"  
Roy moved out of the way so Marth could open the locker door and put his things away.  
"We're screwed," Roy muttered.  
"_We're_ screwed?" Link asked. "Who's 'we'?"  
Roy faced Link.  
"You and I, of course! If you hadn't opened your big mouth and _yapped_ to everyone..."

"Yapped to everyone about what?" Marth questioned. "What did Mr. Gossip say _this_ time?"  
Link didn't know what to say and Roy didn't know how to tell him. By this time, people were starting to look at the three swordsmen.  
"...He said he caught you making out with...Zelda! Yeah, Zelda," Roy said as he elbowed Link in the ribs. "Right?"  
Link nodded and Marth raised an eyebrow.  
"Roy, you honestly suck at lying," Marth said as he closed and locked the locker. "Tell me the truth."  
Roy gulped and Link wanted to try and get out of the sticky situation.  
"...Link said he saw you and I in the nurse's office...kissing," Roy said the last part as quietly as he could. Marth's eyes got really big and narrowed when he looked at Link..  
"And he kind of blabbed to the whole school about it."

Marth sighed. _Great_, he thought. _Just what I needed._

Marth refused to talk to Link the whole way home, and Roy didn't know what to say to him.

-x-

"_Kiss me out on the bearded barley  
nightly beside the green green grass_."  
Marth was getting ready for bed, his pajamas laid out all nice and neatly on his bed. Roy, on the other hand, was on the computer playing Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me" while he talked to someone on NIM--Nintendo Instant Messager--and surfed the internet for something exciting to do. Why was Roy playing lovey dovey songs, anyway? Marth was sure Roy had something better to play--he had over fifteen hundred songs on his computer, half of which was in another language. Better yet, Roy could finish doing those Biology problems Link told him about.

"Listen, about today..." Roy turned the swivel chair so he was facing Marth's back.  
"What about it?" Marth asked, pulling the sleeves of his pajama shirt over his arms.  
"...I shouldn't have asked you to...you know." The carpeting of their room looked very interesting.  
"Roy..." Marth turned around, the top three buttons of Marth's shirt were undone (purposely at that), and he sat down on the bed. "It's okay. It's fine."  
Roy smiled faintly.  
"It didn't mean anything, right?" Roy asked. "As long as it didn't mean anything..."  
Marth couldn't meet his eyes, the intense blue gaze Roy gave him made him just want to come out and say everything. Marth knew he couldn't.  
"...I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Before Roy could question any further, Marth yawned, stretched, and climbed into bed.  
"I'm beat," the prince said, removing his royal headpiece and placing it on his nightstand. "See you tomorrow, Roy." Marth turned the light out, pulled the covers up, and snuggled up into the pillow.  
Marth didn't want Roy to know how he felt. Marth had no idea that Roy was going through the same thing as him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Five-**

"So I have our list of songs for the Talent Show," Link said as Marth and Roy came down for breakfast as he fastened his tie around his head, slipped it through the loop, and then tightened it.  
"I'm sorry," Roy said, looking at Link, "did you just say _our_ list of songs?"  
"Yes," Link said, biting into his cold and stale toast. "...What's wrong?"  
Roy gave him a look that read, "what are you smoking?"  
"First off, whatever happened to Battle of the Bands?"  
"They switched the dates for the Talent Show and Battle of the Bands," Link replied.  
"Second of all, you're not making us do any stupid Backstreet Boys songs or N'Sync or whatever other boybands you listen to, are you?" Roy asked, looking in the fridge for something to munch on. He found a pear, went over to the sink to wash it off, and bit into it, savouring the sweet taste.  
"No, no Backstreet Boys, though they were on the original list thingy."  
"They call it a set list," Marth replied, thumbing through the newspaper. "And what, pray tell, is on it?"

Link sat at the table and unfolded a flimsy sheet of paper that looked as if it were folded over and over fifty thousand times, put through the washing machine, and left to ferment for about a week.  
"...You've got a lot of Paramore songs on here," Roy remarked as he peeked at the list over the blond's shoulder. "I mean, you've got 'Pressure' and 'Let the Flames Begin' and...what does that say?"  
"That?" Link asked, pointing at what looked like "peanut butter" on the sheet. "That says 'Hallelujah'."  
"...You have sappy love songs on here, too," Marth said, bringing the disgusting paper over to him by means of his fork. "'Insatiable'? 'Hey There Delilah'? Link, are you trying to tell us something?"

Link did not understand what Marth was trying to ask, shrugged, and took the set list back.  
"...So! Does anyone want to pick first?"  
If there were crickets in the kitchen of The Manse, they would have been chirping. Seeing as there were no crickets, a long silence followed instead.  
"Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?"  
Roy sighed and looked over the list of songs, which numbered up to at least one hundred (Link was rather bored one day in Geometry).  
"How many songs are we allowed to sing?"  
Link looked over the rules, which he had written down on a ripped up sheet of paper.  
"Three," came the reply.

"In that case," Roy said, "I'll pick 'Far Away' by Nickelback for my first choice." Link wrote it down on a separate piece of paper.  
"What about you, Marth?" Link asked, nudging the swordsman in the ribs, "What're you gonna wow the audience with?"  
Marth scanned the list with indifference.  
"I'm not really much of a singer," the prince said, folding his arms.  
"Nonsense," Link replied, picking a song for the tiara-wearing male. "How's 'Cry for the Dream' sound?"  
Marth just stared at him.  
"You're honestly _trying_ to kill me, aren't you?"  
Link sat back in his chair.  
"There's nothing wrong with 'Cry for the Dream'!"  
"It's an _anime_ song."  
Link crossed his arms.  
"So what?"

Roy blocked the sounds of their arguing out to look at the set list once again.  
"I think I'll also take 'Let the Flames Begin' by Paramore and 'Little Death' by Plus 44." The blond stopped arguing long enough to write down Roy's other choices.  
"Pick the other two songs, Marthy," Link said, smirking.  
"Honestly, Link," Marth said, "none of these songs are even in my _singing range_."  
"'Ending in Tragedy?'"  
"Whatever," Marth replied, not caring about the Talent Show anymore.  
"And...'Perfect Situation'," Link said, scribbling the forced-to-sing melodies down.

"What are _you_ singing then, huh?" Roy asked, still munching on the pear.  
"'Fer Sure', 'Chasing Cars', and...'Incomplete'."  
Roy stared at him blankly.  
"Well, at least you're the only one singing Bee Ess Bee," the red head remarked. "So when are we practising for this?"  
"After school today," Link replied, staring at his watch. "It's seven fifty," he remarked. "We might want to be on our merry way."

Roy took his lunch money from the counter, Marth took his bagged lunch, and Link took his Sponge Bob lunch box as they walked out the door for another not-very-exciting-in-the-least school day.

-x-

"I see we're excused fifth through eighth periods to practise," Marth said, looking at the notice he was given. In doing so, he nearly walked into the pole that divided the two doors, but Roy steered him away from a trip to the nurse and through the door. They stopped smack dab in the middle of the hallway, but no one minded--not many people were around.  
"Which means I get no lunch period," Marth said as unethusiastically as possible. "Hurray for me."  
"All our crap subjects get skipped today," Link remarked as he stared at his schedule, which was jammed into the ID card holder that hung from his light blue lanyard.

"I don't feel like going to first period today," Nicholas said, books in hand. "Sensei's a bitch."  
"I don't really care," Stephen replied, battling a particularly hard Gym Leader in Pokemon Diamond, "You never pay attention anyway."  
"And I just want you to _die_, Redfield."  
Nicholas and Stephen looked up to see Gary Stu Wesker in all black garb, complete with black sunglasses. His hair had so much gel in it that it was dripping from his scalp. Stephen snickered and Nicholas wrinkled his nose in disgust.  
"Look, Gary, we all know you have no identity and have to copy everyone else," Stephen said, looking the platinum blond, "but you don't have to become a clone of your father, you know."  
"I have to let everyone know that I am Albert Wesker's son!" the boy cried as he thrust a gloved fist into the air. Stephen sighed and shook his head.  
"Dude, you _do_ realise that 'Wesker' isn't a very common last name, right?"  
Silence.  
"Whatever."  
"And," Nicholas added, "you _do_ realise you're out of uniform, right?"  
Silence.  
"He's got a point there," Stephen agreed.

Kweenetra walked past the Golden Boys, Stephen, Nicholas, and Gary, books in hand, and into the Japanese classroom. She thought Gary was an idiot and that he was a waste of air, and knew her sentiments were shared by others (most notably Stephen). She slammed her books onto her desk and slipped into her seat, making sure her skirt didn't blow up in the back. Mewtwo looked up from his newspaper for a split second to see who made the noise-disturbance in his classroom, found that it was Kweenetra, took a sip of coffee, and went back to reading. He didn't really care who it was so long as it wasn't Link and Gary.  
"_No History period today_!"  
Mewtwo slammed his newspaper onto his desk and was ready to throw whoever shouted something about their history class out the window using his telekinesis. Seeing that it was Link, he decided against it; Link wasn't worth the energy, anyway.

Marth wandered into the classroom, a book in his hand. Mewtwo glanced at the cover, "The Guide Book to Dreams", and decided he didn't want to know. Marth sat down at his desk and turned the page, his eyes moving back and forth as he read. Mewtwo got his lesson planner out and flipped to the dog-eared page.

"Burn in Hell, Nicholas!"  
"You first, Gary!"  
Mewtwo poked his head out of the classroom doorway and saw Nicholas and Gary slapping and punching each other. Mewtwo sighed, floated out into the hallway, and went over to Mr. Master R. Hand's office. Knocking on the door, he said, "Mr. Hand, I do believe there is some fighting going on in the hallway." Master Hand came out of his office at once, noticed the two boys giving each other black eyes, spitting, biting, and kicking, and basically having an all out brawl on the hallway floor.  
"Hey! Break it up!" the floating hand yelled, pushing them apart with his giant fingers. The boys fought against the massive digits but to no avail.  
"That's it, I'm calling your parents to pick you up! On top of that, you're both suspended for three days outside of school." Leaving the two boys in Mewtwo's care, the giant hand floated back into his office and had his secretary phone the boys' parents.  
"If it were up to me," Mewtwo said, "I would've thrown you out the window and had a contest to see who survived."  
Nicholas and Gary tried to move away from the psychic pokemon, but Mewtwo had a good psychic hold on them.

-x-

Nicholas and Gary were sitting in the vice principal's office, waiting for their fathers to come--Nicholas's mother was at work and couldn't make it, and Gary's mother was being experimented on by Umbrella's scientists (he didn't like talking about it). Nicholas twiddled his thumbs and Gary just stared at the white titled floor, it wasn't like there was anything to do.

The door opened and a tall and stocky brunette walked through the door, his army fatigue pants and a black t-shirt attracting the secretary's attention right away.  
"Are you mister Christopher Redfield?" she asked, typing away at the computer still, the clicking of the keys filling the otherwise quiet room. The man nodded.  
"I'm here to pick up Nicholas," he said, turning to face his son. Nicholas couldn't look at him. "You're going to be in so much trouble when your mother gets home," Chris said, fingers drumming on the desk as the secretary printed out ten pages worth of paperwork for Chris to sign.

The door opened again and a black-wearing blond strolled into the room acting as nonchalantly as possible. Scoping out the room, he saw Gary and glared at him--Gary winced and whimpered from the icy glare his father gave him.  
"I'm here for my sorry excuse for a son," the man said, walking up to the desk. "...Well, well, well, if it isn't Chris Redfield." The man lowered his shades and looked him over. Chris scowled.  
"Albert," Chris said, being as courteous as possible.  
"Chris," Wesker replied, nodding his head in acknowledgement. Wesker and Chris still hated each other's guts, but Wesker had signed an agreement to not kill him, so they were on a sort of "common understanding" with each other. Wesker checked his watch and looked at Gary.  
"Do you realise I was working on something _important_ when all of the sudden I get a call that my idiot son fucked up again? I'm wasting perfectly good money standing here waiting for paperwork to sign, and for what? If Ada hadn't convinced me otherwise, I would've experimented the T-Virus on you." Nicholas looked smug and Gary whimpered.  
"Hey, Wesker, take it easy there," Chris said. "The kid might be fucked up, but you don't have to verbally abuse the poor kid."  
"Shut up, Redfield," Wesker replied in a monotone sort of voice.

The secretary handed Chris some paperwork and a pen, which he took and signed his name on all ten pages of legal jargon that he only half-understood. The jist of it was that his kid was to not go within fifty feet of the campus, there was some sort of fine he had to pay, and if any injuries resulted from the scuffle he had to pay the bills. He put the pen down and pushed the paperwork towards the wireframe secretary. She took it, placed a seal of approval on it, and filed it into a folder that had Redfield, Nicholas Leon written on the tab. Chris pointed behind him, towards the door, and said, "Go outside, Nick, and wait by my motorcycle."  
"But you don't _have_ a motorcycle, you're just borrowing it from Aunt Claire 'cause you crashed our car--"  
"_Get your ass outside, Nicholas_," Chris said, shooting a glare in his son's direction. "You and I will have a nice little talk at home. Wesker," Chris said, and nodded as he left the room, saying something about how "your mother will likely ground you for life, kiddo." Wesker scoffed, signed the required paperwork, and grabbed Gary by the wrist.  
"I do believe you know my good friend Jack Krauser," Wesker said as he dragged Gary out the door, slamming it behind him.

_Strange people_, the wireframe secretary said, and went back to her computer work.

-x-

"Mr. Mekkai, stop doodling in your notebook and pay attention!"  
Link jumped slightly and blushed from being caught, his pencil point embedded in the notebook he was drawing in. The class collectively snickered and went back to doing whatever it was they were doing, most likely anything not relating to Geometry. One kid was listening to his Nintenpod, where the people from the next town could probably hear it. Roy was busy doing complex mathematical equations to answer a simple word problem, and Ms. Toadstool was impressed at such skill.  
"Think she'll promote you to Algebra Two?" Link whispered to the red head in front of him.  
"Probably," Roy replied, focusing on the task at hand, which was to find out how many turnips each Smasher had in their pockets. "Doesn't mean I'll take it, though. I'll have to think about it." By "think about it", Roy meant "talk to his father and seek his advice". Link stared at his problems, and thought that if he stared enough, the answers would suddenly appear right before his eyes. However, all he got was a blaring headache and a detention for tomorrow morning for not doing his work.

"I have a feeling Peach doesn't like me," Link said, trying to refrain from committing Seppuku with his pencil. "I wonder if she's on her--"  
"Link!" Roy yelled, turning around, face flushed. "That's more than I'd ever like to know about Peach, thank you very much."  
"It's probably true," Link reasoned, still staring at his worksheet. "Hey, what's an angle sum?"  
Roy sighed and wondered why no one picked up on the idea that maybe, just maybe, Link wasn't supposed to be in Geometry.

"Oh, and do we change for gym?" Link asked in a conspiratorial whisper.  
"How the heck would I know? I didn't have gym yet," the red head replied.  
Link shrugged.  
"You seem to know everything. And besides, you might've seen Marth or something."  
Roy turned around in his seat, which creaked.  
"I haven't left the classroom since we _got here_. I don't think I would've seen Marth between the time second period started and now."

Ms. Toadstool wrote "Geom." on the right hand corner of the board and underlined it. Glancing at the paper she held in her hand, she wrote the night's homework down, and then added "SAVE" by "Geom." so no one would erase it accidently.  
"Your homework is on the board, children," she said, fluffing the cushion on her seat before sitting down. "It shouldn't be that hard--for most of you, anyway." Link swore Peach was looking at him as she said that, but decided it was probably his imagination.  
"You can get started on it now, if you'd like. Oh, and Mr. Pherae, a word with you please."

The class "ooh"ed at the prospect of Roy being in trouble, and quieted when Ms. Toadstool threw them a dirty look. Roy got up from his seat, side stepped a few book bags lying on the floor, and over to Ms. Toadstool's desk, where he placed his hands on the edge.  
"Is Geometry a...challenge to you?" she asked, shuffling papers around in a distracted sort of way. Roy shrugged.  
"Not...really. I mean, I don't think it's hard or anything," the red head replied, his body being propped up by his arms. "Why?"  
"Well," Ms. Toadstool said, "if you really wanted to, I could put in a word with your counselor and have you moved up to Algebra Two."  
Roy cleared his throat.  
"Well, I'd have to think about it."  
Ms. Toadstool shoved a pile of papers next to a rather large pile of books.  
"Well that's fine. You can let me know what your answer is, then." Roy nodded and walked back to his seat.  
"What was that all about?" Link asked, and Roy said nothing.

"Oh, and Link? I think I'm going to talk to your counselor about moving you out of Geometry," Ms. Toadstool said, putting her lunch bag into one of the many desk drawers. "I...don't think you should be here."  
Link sighed and Roy said nothing except, "I told you so."

-x-

"Today," Ms. Aran said as she walked back and forth in front of her gym class, "you will be doing an exciting sport."  
Many looked at each other with anticipation. It was about damn time they played hockey. Maybe they would play it with a real puck...  
"Today," she said, stopping in front of a boy in the front row, "we will be doing Cup Stacking."  
Many looked at each other and went "what the crap?". What the heck was Cup Stacking and _how_, exactly, did it classify as a "sport"?  
"What the hell is Cup Stacking?" one kid asked, raising his hand.  
"What does it _sound_ like?" Ms. Aran answered with another question, hands clasped behind her back. "You stack cups on top of each other. It's like a...relay. With cups."  
The kid wanted to know what kind of sport used cups, and Ms. Aran smugly replied, "Hockey." The kid, unfortunately, did not get the joke.

"We changed for _this_?" Link said, outraged, as he was handed a pack of three "cup stacking" cups. "I do this at freaking _parties_ with those styrofoam cups to make it look snazzy, not to compete with some loser."  
Roy, who was on Link's team, shook his head.  
"This is incredibly _queer_," Roy remarked. "I'd rather play Ring Around the Rosy than this crap."  
"All right," Ms. Aran said, "this is incredibly easy. You simply stack them like this--" she demonstrated with her own, "--and then take them down in the reverse way you put them up. Capiche?"  
When it came time to actually _try_ it, many dropped them or knocked them over. But not Link. Link, who had made elaborate designs of Hyrule Castle with styrofoam tea and coffee cups, was the only one who kept his cool and didn't fumble once.

"I WIN!" Link shouted, pumping a fist into the air. Somehow, Link made a miniature model of Hyrule Temple.  
"Very nice, Mr. Mekkai," Ms. Aran said, marking the performance in her grade book. "Now can you take it down?"  
Link cracked his knuckles and effortlessly took down his masterpiece.  
"What would Hyrule do without you, Link?" one of his classmates asked, patting him on the back.  
"I dunno," Link replied, "probably get taken over by Ganondorf."

-x-

"Hey, if we're in Chorus, we can be excused during it as well," Link said, peering at the sign on the door. Adjusting his bag, Link stretched and headed in the opposite direction, towards the staircase that led to the third floor of the old building.  
"Shouldn't we tell Marth?" Roy asked, walking faster so he could catch up to Link.  
"He'll see the sign on the door," Link answered.  
"Hopefully," Roy said, as he and Link nearly threw the doors off their hinges when they opened them.  
"You don't have to slam them open!" a hall monitor yelled, shaking a fist after their retreating backs.

"So the auditorium is pretty...dead," Link said when they arrived in the theatre-like room. Link slid his bag off his shoulder, caught the strap with his hand, and placed it onto one of the seats near the back. Roy closed the doors so no noise could distract them, and was nearly knocked over when Marth came rushing through them.  
"Oww," Roy said, rubbing the spot on his face where the door collided with his cheek.  
"Sorry," Marth said, reaching a hand out to gently massage the now-light-red spot on the red head's cheek.  
"Your hands are cold," Roy said, placing a hand over Marth's. He went to pull his hand away when Roy said, "No, leave it. It feels good." Marth and Roy's "sappy" moment was interrupted by Link tripping over the microphone cord and nearly falling off of the stage.

"I'm okay!" Link shouted out, pushing himself away from the edge of the stage and towards the table with the CD player on it. Taking out his green CD wallet, he flipped through the pages until he came upon the CD he was looking for. Pressing the "Open" button on the stereo and nearly getting hit with the cover, he slipped the disc out of the sleeve, popped it into the player (after nearly bending the CD from not having it in the right spot), and closed the cover with a slam.  
"Where's the play button...?" Link muttered, looking at the interface on the front of the stereo upside down, too lazy to turn the stereo around to make things easier. Marth sighed, grabbed Roy's wrist, and led him to the front of the theatre to sit while Link figured out how to work the CD player.  
"Aha!" the blond shouted, blowing a stray strand of hair out of his face. "It lives!"

Link fell over after nearly having a heart attack from how loud the music was. People outside the auditorium went over to the doors and tried to peek inside and see what was going on. Marth and Roy, who were in front of the speakers, nearly went deaf and were forced to cover their ears. One girl outside the doors screamed, "The Microsoft invasion has begun!" and fainted.  
"Link!" Marth shouted as loud as he could in an attempt to be heard over the music. "Turn it down!"  
Link was trying to find the volume knob.  
"I can't find the Din-damned volume control thingy!"  
Roy, who was well versed in stereos, walked over to it, located the very hard to miss volume knob (which was about the size of a plum), and turned it to the left until the music wasn't shattering glass and causing the school to shake on its foundation.

"It says 'volume' above it," Roy said, and handed him the remote. "And you can use the remote to do the same thing." Link stared at the controller and then at the boom box with narrowed eyes.  
"You're going _down_," he whispered to the electronic device. "Down I say."  
Link was entirely unaware of the fact that he was playing really bad techno music.

-x-

"So what track is it again?" Link asked as Roy sat on the edge of the stage.  
"According to the track list, it's number six," Roy answered, putting the list down as he did so. Link, who finally figured out how to work the damn thing, flipped to track six.  
"Ready when you are," Link said, sitting on the table next to the stereo. Roy stood up and walked over to where the microphone stand was.  
"...Where's the microphone?" Roy asked, gesturing to the empty spot on the stand where it would usually be. Link shrugged.  
"I thought it was already there," Link replied, scratching his head as he went over to the stand. "And if it's not there, then I have no idea where it is."

Marth came up behind Link, took something out of his pants pocket, and held it out to Roy.  
"Check your pockets next time," Marth said, nudging Link in the side. Link laughed in a nervous sort of way, hand on the back of his head.  
"I guess I had a blond moment."  
Roy placed the mic on the stand and adjusted it to his height.  
"Alright," Link said, returning to his spot by the stereo. "Ready when you are."  
"Pardon my sucking," Roy warned, turning the mic on. "I haven't done karaoke since Pherae's Harvest Festival last year."  
Link didn't know Roy did karaoke, shrugged, and decided he didn't really care.

Link pressed "play" on the boom box, and the introduction to the song played.

"_What a shame we all became such fragile, broken things._  
_A memory remains just a tiny spark_," Roy sang as Link shifted so that his leg wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon. Marth watched from his seat with a sort of morbid curiosity. He interest in watching Roy became more so apparent when Roy unbuttoned his shirt somewhat.

Oh yes, that definitely caught Marth's attention.

"_This is how we'll dance when,_  
_When they try to take us down_  
_This is how we'll sing it_." Roy, who was getting very into the song, removed the mic from the stand and began doing some complicated dance moves--as complicated as one can get with the use of one hand, anyway. Marth didn't even know Roy _could_ dance, and Link had no idea Roy could sing as high as he did without needing a swift kick to the groin. Marth raised an eyebrow when he saw Link headbanging during the solo, but said nothing--Link was an odd individual after all.

"_This is how we'll stand when_  
_When they burn our houses down._  
_This is what will be oh glory._" Roy was sweating like crazy and the song ended, going into another song as he placed the microphone back on the stand. Link threw a towel at him, which hit him smack in the face.  
"Thanks," Roy said, and wiped his face off as well as unbutton his shirt more.

Marth wanted to look away, but he couldn't even if he wanted to.  
_You bastard_, Marth thought, _you're doing this on purpose._

"All righty then," Link said, looking at his set list while bad techno played. "You're just getting started, Roy, so don't sit down yet." Roy was about to jump off the stage when he heard Link tell him to stay where he was, and so he opted for sitting on the edge instead.  
"What do you want to do next? Do you want 'Far Away' or 'Little Death'?"  
Roy shrugged and removed his school blazer, throwing it (or he tried to, anyway) at the chair next to Marth. The wind was wrong and so it landed _on_ Marth, slight dampness and all. Marth picked the jacket up by the collar and placed it on the chair to his left, where Roy had intended it to go. Roy grinned sheepishly.  
"Sorry Marth."

"Let's do 'Little Death' next," Link said, switching to track three.  
"Can I change it to 'Lilian' instead?" Roy asked, and Link instead switched it to track five.  
"You're lucky I had that song on the CD," Link said as Roy got up and he handed him the microphone.  
"Alright, let's do this," Roy said, cracking his knuckles and stretching his back. "I'm ready."  
Link pressed play, and the short introduction for the song played.

"_The place I used to live made me feel like a tourist  
I couldn't coexist with the cold and suspicious  
When the last remaining light was starting to filter  
It seemed the perfect time to step into the future_," Roy sang, using the microphone stand as something he could kind of lean on. Link thought the song was kind of slow, but shrugged and figured Roy knew what he was doing.

The doors of the auditorium slammed open and in came Gary Stu Wesker, who got out of his three day out of school suspension when his father waved a one hundred dollar bill under Mr. Crazy Hand's fat, greedy digit. Over his all black attire was his white dress shirt and his light blue blazer, since his father wouldn't pay the out of uniform fee a second time, citing the money had better use elsewhere.

"_And she's trying to sleep it off_  
_With her head on my shoulder..._"

Gary walked down the slightly sloped aisle, arms crossed, a look of importance on his face. He sneered at the red head performing some stupid song by some equally stupid band, which Link would have resented had Gary said anything out loud.  
"Well, well, well, the kid who lives off his dad's name and fortune actually has some semblance of talent," Gary remarked, trying to be as rude as possible. Marth, who heard the remark, turned around and gave him the glare-equivalent of the middle finger.  
"Hey, Melee Academy is for _boys_, not girls," Gary said in a Draco Malfoy sort of voice, and Marth pretended Gary spontaneously combusted.

The music ended and Roy panted from all the physical activity. Link handed him a bottle of water and switched to another techno song.  
"Link, do you have a fetish for really bad techno or something?" Roy asked after he chugged half of the bottle.  
"...No. Why?"  
"You seem to have a lot of it."  
"You think you can do your last song?" Link asked, gesturing to his clipboard. "It's not that long. And then you can take a break and we can watch Marth sing." Roy smiled at the thought of Marth on stage singing his little Altean heart out, and handed Link the bottle of water.  
"Yeah, it's no problem."

Gary looked at his watch and wondered when Link would realise he was there, and Link just ignored Gary.

Link switched to track twelve and pressed the Play button and sat back to watch Roy's little "show".

"_This time, This place_  
_Misused, Mistakes_  
_Too long, Too late_  
_Who was I to make you wait_?"

_Oh dear gods_, Marth thought. _Not a _love _song_.  
Oh yes, Roy decided to sing the sappiest song he could think of without being overtly so, just for his girlfriend, who was coming to see the Talent Show.  
Gary had decided to sit down and wait for his turn like a good little boy, which is what he was deep down inside. Link held up a cigarette lighter and waved his back and forth slowly.

"_On my knees, I'll ask_  
_Last chance for one last dance_  
_'Cause with you, I'd withstand_  
_All of hell to hold your hand._"

Roy was really getting into it, Marth observed, which was really weird to see Roy practically on his knees singing his head off about how he'll never leave his lover and all sorts of other mushy stuff. Marth was never one for love songs, especially the overtly sappy ones that were borderline stalker.

Roy hit a particularly high note, which surprised both Link and Marth. Any normal male would need a swift kick to the genitals to have something as high as that, but then again, Roy wasn't 'any normal male'. He was Roy, a prodigy in the sword arts, which really had nothing to do with singing. His singing talent probably came from his uncle, who was a bard. That had to be it, Marth concluded. That's how Roy could sing that high.

Maybe that had nothing to do with anything. Marth didn't care.

Roy placed the mic back on the stand and gulped down the rest of his water.  
"Okay Marth," Roy said as he jumped off of the stage, "it's your turn."  
Marth, who was just getting comfortable in his seat, stared at the red head like there were ten of him.  
"I already told you, I'm not--"  
"Of course you are!" Link said, pulling Marth out of his chair. "I mean c'mon Marth. You can sing, can't you?"  
"...If you want to put it that way, yes."  
"Then there's no problem."  
Marth sighed and gave up. It was no use arguing with Link.

"We'll be doing which song, Marthy?"  
Marth looked at the scrap of paper he hastily wrote his songs onto and picked one at random.  
"Um... 'Cry for the Dream'?"  
"And lookit, Marthy, it's from your favourite anime!" Link said in a sort of overly enthusiastic way. Favourite anime? Marth didn't have one.  
Then it hit him like a sack of potatoes.  
"_You're making me do a Heero Yuy image song_?!"  
If Marth didn't pride himself in being a dignified and usually-not-violent, he would've thrown the microphone at the blond and strangled him with the cord. However, since Marth prided himself in being a dignified and usually-not-violent prince, he restrained himself.  
"Tell me when you're ready, Marthy," Link said, skipping to track one on the CD. Marth composed himself and adjusted the stand.  
"All right. Let's get this over with." Link, who was sitting next to Roy, pressed the sideways triangle shaped button on the remote, and sat back and watched what Marth would probably call his impending doom.

"_Arikitari no hiirou nante _  
_Mappira sa Ore ni wa naranai _  
_Tamaranai_."  
Roy heard the faint sound of snickering coming from besides him, and looked to see Link trying to contain his laughter. Roy sighed. There wasn't anything wrong with how Marth sounded; Link was just very easily amused. Roy also noticed that Marth looked nervous as all hell and extremely uncertain of his own abilities--Link's giggling like a ten year old school girl wasn't helping matters either.  
"See? This is why he didn't want to do this song. The judges'll probably be like, 'And besides, you did this song last year for Battle of the Bands'," Roy said, slouching in his seat. Link rummaged through his book bag and pulled out a "Ninten-Mart" plastic shopping bag filled with unidentifiable objects.  
"I'll be back," Link said as he grabbed the bag and walked over to the curtain-covered entranceway to the backstage area. The curtain settled back into its former position and hid Link from view--if he were still there.

"_Yami ni tsubasa wo hirogete ashita e habatakou _  
_Hitomi ga mitsumeteru kaze ni notte._"  
Link had come back from wherever he ran off to dressed in a "Melee Academy Cheerleading Squad" hoodie with green sweatpants, shopping bag in hand. He plopped down in his seat and put his belongings next to him on the floor.  
"Why is your tie around your head and why did you change out of the uniform?" Roy asked as the last few notes of "Cry for the Dream" played out.  
"Crazy Hand doesn't care, we're rehearsing for the Talent Show, and I wanted something more comfortable than those stiff assed pants they make us wear."  
"Oh," Roy said, and saw Marth place the mic on the stand.

"Am I done now?" the blue haired prince asked, standing with his arms folded as patient as he could.  
"Nu-uh, Mr. Marthy," Link answered, gesturing to the clipboard. "You have two more songs to go."  
"They aren't anime songs, are they?"  
Link had a smug grin on his face.  
"M_ay_be. Maybe not," the blond said in a sing-song fashion. Marth resisted the urge to slap himself with the mic stand.  
"Maybe you could do 'Flying Away'..."  
Marth nearly had a heart attack.  
"...Do you have a fetish for--"  
"No! I don't have a fetish for bad techno music!" Link shouted, about to throw the clipboard at something. "Stop asking!"  
Marth scratched his neck.  
"I was going to ask if you had a fetish for anime music, but okay..."

Marth and Link just looked at each other.  
"So, will you do it?"  
Marth stared at him.  
"No."  
"But Marth--"  
"_No_. No more Midorikawa Hikaru songs."  
Roy just snickered, Link hung his head in defeat, and Marth looked at the set list.  
"I'd like to continue with the songs we've picked before hand, so play whatever track number 'Ending in Tragedy' is associated with."  
Link didn't argue and did as Marth said.

"_I tried to save us_  
_But little did I know_  
_You are a speeding train off track_  
_With little time to go_."  
Link leaned against Roy's arm and yawned. If only he had a nice cozy blanket and a soft pillow...  
Marth hit a sour note which caused all thoughts of sleep to flee Link's mind, and for Roy to jump and cover his ears, which caused Link's head to be introduced to the arm rest.  
"Ow," Link said, sitting up and clutching the back of his head.

"_Now it's our time_  
_And I'll see you on the other side._"  
Roy started on his Geometry homework when Zelda quietly crept into the room, binder in her hand. Link played Phantom Hourglass on his custom made Nintendo DS and killed any and all enemies on the screen.  
"Link," Zelda said, tapping him on the shoulder, "you should have waited for me before starting the rehearsal. I still need to approve the songs you're singing."  
Link was too absorbed in his Keese fighting to pay any attention to her. She sighed, walked over to where the stereo was, found the set list, and lightly giggled at the song choices for Link.  
"I swear he has a thing for bad techno music."  
"I heard that!" Link retorted, swiping furiously at enemies with his stylus. Roy opened his bag and searched for his calculator, which was somewhere in between his Japanese text book, the crapload of papers jammed in there, his cell phone, his planner, twelve dollars in Pheraean currency (which was about 2500 gold pieces), and his wallet. Roy wasn't very organised and was against the idea of using folders to hold his papers.

"_It's ending in tragedy_  
_And most of all_  
_It's in my control_  
_To end it all._" Marth ended the song on that note and fell to his knees on the stage, microphone still in hand. Zelda looked at him, concerned.  
"Marth?" she called, "Are you all right?"  
Marth looked up and nodded slowly.  
"I'm fine. I just wanted to be dramatic."

The stereo offered no break for Marth, though, because it started playing "Perfect Situation," and so Marth had to stand up again, do some complicated dance number, sing, and then promptly pass out when it was all over. That was his plan, anyway.

"_What's the deal with my brain?_  
_Why am I so obviously insane?_  
_In a perfect situation_  
_I let love down the drain._"  
Marth, at this point, began serenading the microphone stand, and even started dancing with it. Link, who had stopped hacking monsters to pieces to watch, was creeped out and instead went back to his game. Roy, finished with his Geometry homework, took out a piece of loose leaf and started writing a letter to his father. Gary was half asleep and playing Mario Kart DS, his sunglasses balanced on top of his head--it was hard to see in those things when the room was dark.  
"Hey! How dare you cut me off! Eat Koopa Shell, Monkey Butt!" Gary shouted, turning the DS to the left as his Peach character turned in the same direction, pressed the R button to begin drifting, and then pressed the L button to hurl a Red Koopa Shell at Donkey Kong. He whooped and hollared at his awesomeness.

"_Get your hands off the girl,  
Can't you see that she belongs to me?  
And I don't appreciate this excess company.  
Though I can't satisfy all the needs she has  
And so she starts to wander...  
Can you blame her?_"  
Marth, during the part where he was supposed to be "ooh"ing, began breakdancing, doing moves that would break a normal person's back. Marth, however, was a swordsman, and was therefore rather flexible and nimble. Girls that somehow got into the building were on top of each other trying to get a peek through the window of the double doors, screaming like ten year old school girls at a Green Day concert at that part where Billie Joe faux-masturbates. If they could get into the auditorium, they would fill up in front of the stage and orgasm over Marth's awesomeness, his sexiness, and his ability to not break his back breakdancing. But they couldn't, and Mewtwo floated by and want to know why there were no fangirls of his awesomeness.

The song ended and Marth realised just how sweaty he was--his shirt was practically transparent (which was probably one of the other several reasons why the fangirls outside the auditorium were shrieking like banshees). Roy, too, was looking at Marth's transparent shirt and blushed as he thought of Marth's well-toned chest and abdomen...  
He stared at his letter to his father and nearly shrieked at what was written.  
There was no way in hell he was going to tell his father, "Man, Marth is kind of hot with a transparent dress shirt on...his nicely toned muscles are roar... Run my hands over his body...". No way in hell, heaven, or any other place.  
"Hey, Roy, what're you hastily scribbling out?" Marth asked as he walked over. Roy blushed harder and proceded to crumple the letter up and toss it at Link's head.  
"Nothing," Roy replied, "it was just a letter to my father that I messed up really bad. Why?"  
Marth smirked.  
"You're blushing."  
Marth didn't realise how red Roy's face could get.  
"Am not!"  
"You are too," Marth countered, playfully smacking Roy with his towel.

Marth and Roy looked around and saw that Zelda and Link went backstage to prepare his "awesome plan" and Gary was asleep in his chair. They were alone.  
"...Just how tall _are_ you?" Marth asked randomly, leaning against the arm rest of the chair Roy was sitting in.  
"Well, the nurse said I was 165.1 centimetres tall. Why?"  
Marth wrapped his hand around Roy's wrist.  
"Let me see."  
Roy stood up and Marth stopped slouching; the top of Roy's head was at Marth's nose.  
"I'll buy that," Marth said, running a hand through his hair.  
"Why'd you ask that?" Marth shrugged.  
"For some reason, you seemed shorter than that. You're not that much shorter than I am, though, and I'm 172.72 centimetres." He stuck his tongue out.  
Roy stared at him.  
"Are you trying to enact some sort of height rule or something?" Marth shook his head.  
"No, I was just curious is all."

Roy walked over to the stereo to change the song to something else--he was getting tired of listening to bad techno.  
"What the crap? Link has extremely bad and sappy love songs on his CD, too." Out of morbid curiosity, Roy put the song on and nearly burst out laughing.  
"Oh wow," Marth said, standing next to Roy. "I hope he doesn't plan on hitting on a home run to that song."  
Roy turned around, eyebrow raised. "...'Hitting a home run'?"  
Marth made several gestures with his hands, as if they would explain everything for him.  
"Well, you know how first base is holding hands, second base is kissing, third base is Frenching, right?" Roy nodded. "Well, when you hit a home run," Marth continued, "you're...well...you're giving the girl 'the time', you know?"  
Roy sat on the edge of the table, his hands gripping the edge.  
"...So you hope Link never plans on having sex to this song?"  
Marth smiled. "Exactly."

As Marth listened to the song, though, he realised it wasn't as bad as Roy was making it out to be. He still wouldn't ever have sex with someone while the song was playing, but it was slow dance worthy at least.  
"...Marth? Why are you looking at me like that?"  
Marth wasn't even aware he _was_ looking at Roy--he thought he was looking past him--but when his mind caught up with his eyes, he realised all his attention was on Roy's mouth. Marth blinked a few times to rid his mind of evil thoughts.  
"You know, this song isn't _that_ bad," Marth said, "I mean it's not sex worthy, but you could make out to it or slow dance or something..."  
Roy spread his legs apart slightly and moved his hands so they were gripping the edge of the table between them as he leaned forward.  
"You played this at your wedding, didn't you," Roy said, a smirk on his lips. Marth was very much aware of the position Roy was in at that moment and moved forward slightly.  
"No," Marth replied, "Sheeda wouldn't pick something this sappy."

There was an unnerving silence between the two of them. Marth kept staring at Roy, and Roy kept staring at the floor.  
Suddenly, Marth pined Roy's wrists where they were and moved so their faces were mere inches apart.  
"M-Marth, what are you do--nnng..."  
Marth realised just how tense Roy was and, still having a hold on Roy's wrists, moved them so they were on either side of Roy's head.  
"Relax," Marth said when he broke the kiss. Roy was breathing just a little quicker, his eyes half lidded, and his face was a light shade of pink.  
Marth kissed Roy again, but harder and more aggressive than the last one. Roy pressed against Marth and moaned slightly. Marth let Roy's hands go in favour of running one up the side of Roy's leg and the other cupped his cheek. Roy, having his hands free, wrapped them around Marth's neck and pulled him closer.

They didn't realise Link and Zelda were watching Marth move Roy's legs so that they were around the prince's waist from backstage. They didn't realise Link and Zelda were watching Marth run a hand up Roy's shirt.  
"You owe me ten bucks," Link said, holding a hand out, palm facing up, in front of Zelda without taking his eyes off of the Fire Emblem boys.  
"I'll pay you later," she replied.

Roy opened his mouth and Marth swept his tongue through it tentatively before exploring the new territory. Roy, unfamiliar with the feeling, moaned and pressed against Marth harder.  
"M-Marth," Roy said, his voice cracking as the Altean nibbled and sucked on Roy's neck, "we have to s-stop."  
Marth didn't pay any attention to what Roy was saying.  
"Marth," Roy said, moving his hands so they were against Marth's chest. He made a slight pushing motion against the other swordsman.  
"We have to stop this before it gets out of hand."  
Marth reluctantly ceased sucking on Roy's neck and realised the position they had gotten into.

"...You like being in between my legs, don't you?" Roy asked as he sat up. Roy hadn't realised that Marth had, at one point, unbuttoned his shirt completely and was beginning work on his belt.  
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Marth replied, placing a kiss on Roy's mouth again. Roy ran his fingers through Marth's hair as Marth went from his face to his neck.  
"Marth," Roy said, "we're doing the same thing again."  
"Sorry," Marth replied sheepishly and he completely disentangled himself from the red head.  
"...Next time," Roy said as he began buttoning his shirt up, "I want to be on top." Marth kissed him again--he found he couldn't help himself--and pulled away from him before saying, "If there _is_ a next time."  
Roy laughed.  
"Oh, there will be. There will be loads of 'next time's."

There was silence.  
"So does this mean you...you feel the same way?" Marth asked, breaking the long silence.  
"I guess it does," Roy answered. "We'd have to do this again for me to be sure."  
They turned around when they heard giggling, and Marth and Roy then realised something rather important.  
Link and Zelda saw the whole thing.  
"No! Don't hit me!" Link shouted as he ran from a rather pissed off prince of Altea, who was practically on top of him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Six-**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Super Smash Brothers Melee. It belongs to Hal Laboratories/Nintendo. I do not own the Nintendo DS, that belongs to Nintendo. I don't own the songs "Cry for the Dream", "Spiritualize", "Ending in Tragedy", "Perfect Situation", or "Dreams Come True". They belong to Hikaru Midorikawa, New Found Glory, Weezer, and S.E.S., respectively. No profit is being made from this story, it's just for fun. Stephen Alvarez, Nicholas Ryan Pickel/Nicholas Leon Redfield, and Gary Stu Wesker are original characters created by me for this story. Kweenetra belongs to my good friend, Quikil. Elice (Marth's sister) belongs to Nintendo.

**Warning(s):** More MarthxRoy. They're just kissing, and they shared a bed. Woo.

-x-

Link's cell phone alarm went off, playing "Everytime We Touch" at a low volume, signifying Link needed to get his rear in motion for the school day. When he picked the small and grey phone to turn his alarm off, he saw it went off five minutes late. Kicking the dark green covers aside, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and ran down the hall to the laundry room to see if his clothes were washed from when he put them in last night. Seeing as they were clean, he popped them into the dryer and put it on its quick cycle.

Marth, meanwhile, was sleeping soundly in his bed and turned onto his side, wrapping his arm around the figure next to him in his bed, who cuddled up to him in turn. Just as his alarm went off, the door to the bedroom he and Roy shared violently swung open, and on the other side of it was Link, wearing pajama bottoms and a semi-ironed dressed shirt, surveying the yellow-painted room and saw Marth sit up--or attempt to--so he could turn his alarm off. Marth, who was just disentangling himself from the person by his side, noticed the blond standing in his doorway.

"...I was gonna wake you up," Link said, holding what looked like a milk bottle in his hand, "but it looks like you took care of that for me."  
Marth hit the snooze button on his alarm and felt around for his tiara on the nightstand, rubbing his face as he did so.  
"Don't you ever _knock_?" Marth said as he placed the bejeweled headpiece into his hair.  
Link stared at Marth.  
"...Am I supposed to?" the blond asked. "No one in Kokiri Forest said you had to knock before entering."  
Marth simply sighed and left his bed so he could get dressed.

"Whose clothes are those on the floor?" Link asked, leaning against the wall next to the doorway.  
"Mine," Marth said, scooping his pajama pants off the floor. He walked over to the laundry basket, dropped his clothes into it, and walked over to his desk chair to retrieve his pants.  
Link raised an eyebrow.  
"Unless you normally wear two pairs of undergarments and pants and shirts, I don't think so."  
Marth sighed and threw on his shirt.  
"...Where's Roy, anyway?"

Marth blushed and buttoned the cuffs of his shirt.  
"Sleeping, still," Marth answered, bending over to tie his shoelaces.  
Link chugged his milk and wiped the milk mustache off with his sleeve.  
"But his bed is emp...ty. Oh. I see." Marth's cheeks flushed more and he sat on the edge of his bed.  
"There's snow and ice outside," Young Link said, poking his head into Marth and Roy's room.  
"That's nice, Little Link," Link replied in an "I don't care" voice. Young Link stuck his tongue out.  
"Yeah well, we have no school today, so it sucks for you!" the younger Link said and ran off before Link could hit him with his hat.

"Think they called it?" Link asked, leaning against the doorway still, milk glass in his hand. Marth shrugged.  
"Go check on the website," the prince said, crawling onto his bed.  
"Roy," Marth said, whispering into the boy's ear. "It's time to wake up."  
Roy groaned and attempted to turn over when he realised he couldn't.  
"Marth..."  
The red head opened his eyes and stared at the blue headed swordsman sleepily.  
"...Where are my clothes?"  
Marth, forgetting Link was in the room, ran a hand under the covers and onto Roy's leg.  
"Who cares about clothes?" he whispered. Roy, whose hands were underneath the covers as well, grabbed the prince's hand so Marth wouldn't move it up any further. Marth smirked and captured Roy's lips in a kiss.  
"We have _company_," Roy hissed against Marth's mouth, and sat up, pulling away from Marth in the process. Marth sighed.  
"You know I wouldn't do anything while Link was in the room, anyway."

Link clicked "refresh" on the web browser repeatedly in hopes that the website would change every time. Unfortunately for him, the status for "Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys" was set to "Regular".  
"Looks like we have school today," Link said disappointedly. Roy groaned and Marth shooed Link out of their room so Roy could get dressed.

-x-

"We all sound good enough to sing for the Talent Show," Link remarked, looking over the notes he scribbled during everyone's performances.  
"We'd better," Roy said, shifting his book bag so it wasn't digging into his shoulder. "We've been practising for, oh, two _weeks_. We should have everything down pat by now."  
"Which means," the blond continued on with the conversation, "unless you absolutely hate the song you sing--and you should've had it changed by now, in that case--there can't be any last minute changes." He looked at the set list and scribbled more notes on it in pencil.  
"Dammit!" the Hylian screamed at his smudged writing. "This is why I _hate_ pencils!"  
Roy discreetly handed Link a pen so he wouldn't have an upset. Link was funny like that.

"Which brings me to finalising everything," Link said, rewriting what was there previous that had smudged. "You're all right with the stuff you're doing, Roy?"  
Roy thought for a moment.  
"Well yeah...I guess so." Link put all checks by Roy's material and then circled a bunch of foreign characters Roy couldn't read.  
"What about you, Marth?" the hero of Hyrule asked, rolling his left sleeve up some so no pen ink would get on it. Marth shrugged.  
"I...I don't _mind_ what I'm doing..." Marth didn't sound very convincing.  
"Well," Link said, "d'you wanna change it or something? As long as you know what you're doing and you give me a CD of the songs, it's... well, manageable."

Marth shrugged once again and fixed his shirt collar.  
"I want something _happy_," the prince of Altea said, arms crossed.  
"_Marth_," Roy said, "there are _tons_ of songs about happiness and unicorns and bunnies prancing through fields of flowers."  
Marth gave him a look that said, "I know."  
"D'you have something in mind?" Link asked, ignoring Roy and the look he was getting from Marth.  
"Something in English would be nice."  
Link deadpanned.  
"What?" Marth asked, raising an eyebrow at Link's sudden seriousness.  
"You're still singing 'Cry for the Dream'," Link remarked, checking it off. "And nothing you say is getting you out of it."

Marth sighed.  
"At this point, I really don't _care_. But I want something that's cheerful, too. And in English. Or one of the two. I don't know."  
Link grinned like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland and flipped through his list.  
"I have a song here," Link said, sidling over to Marth and pointing at a title with his pen, nearly elbowing Marth in the ribs as he did so.  
"...'Spiritualized'?" Marth asked, watching Link's left elbow so he wouldn't get smacked with it again. "...Why does that sound familiar?"  
Link snickered.  
"Don't tell me," Marth said, sighing. "I already know." Link wrote it down on the clipboard.  
"Which song is this replacing?" Link asked. "'Ending in Tragedy' or 'Perfect Situation'?"  
Marth shrugged.  
"Stop shrugging and say something," Link said. "I'm not good at reading your body language, you know."  
Marth resisted the urge to shrug and said, "Either or. I'm going to change those two, anyway, so pick."  
Link scribbled down, in typical left-hand scrawl, 'Spiritualized' and messily crossed out 'Ending in Tragedy'.

"...You _do_ realise that song's not about happiness and rainbows and stuff, right?" Roy asked, playing with his tie. Marth nodded.  
"It's not like I care. It's in English."  
"With one stanza in Japanese," Link added to Marth's statement, pointing his pen at the blue headed swordsman.  
It was Marth's turn to deadpan.  
"...Don't give me that blank stare," Link said, writing something down in Hylian. "You should've known that."

Link came to a halt right before the "tunnel" connecting the third floor of the new building to the stairwell leading to the third floor of the old one.  
"Is it just me," Link said, "or are we like, the only ones here?"  
Roy looked back into the hallway they were in and then looked outside. No one was there except them and Kweenetra, who was outside chatting on her cellphone.  
"Either we got here earlier than we usually do," Roy said, "or everyone else is late."  
"Extremely late," Marth added, pointing to his wrist watch.  
"I didn't know you wore a watch," Link remarked, staring at the navy blue object strapped to Marth's wrist.  
"There are a lot of things you don't know about me," the prince replied, and resumed walking through the "tunnel" connecting new building with old.

-x-

"So!" Link said, going over the song list still. "You'll never guess what _I_ found out."  
"Zelda's dating Ganon?" Roy offered, looking up from his Nintendo DS as he sat on the floor. Link gave him a distressed look.  
"What?!"  
Marth pushed Roy so the red head toppled over and cleared his throat.  
"Ow!"  
"Zelda's not dating _anyone_," Marth corrected. "Don't listen to him."  
Link calmed down and chucked his pencil at Roy.  
"Anyway!" Link said, changing the topic. "Apparently the website was...err... not correct."

Marth gave Link a look he couldn't read.  
"You mean to tell me we _don't_ have school?" Roy said, sitting up, rubbing his aching shoulder.  
"No, no, no," Link said, waving his hands around and nearly clobbering Kweenetra in the head with his clipboard. "We have school. We just have a delayed opening."  
Roy sighed and went back to plowing his field in Rune Factory; Marth just sat there slumped against the lockers behind him.  
"I could've slept an extra hour," Marth complained, rubbing his temple. Link laughed nervously.  
"Well, you can't blame me," the blond said. "I checked the website and Zelda even called the hotline and it said we had a regular day."

There was, apparently, no justice in the world. At least, that's what Marth thought.

"So what about your third song, Marthy?" Link asked, holding up the green clipboard with the mint green stationery.  
Marth was watching Roy harvest radishes.  
"Hmm?" Marth asked, not hearing what Link said. "What did you say?"  
Link repeated his question.  
"Um...well... I really don't know."  
Link sighed.  
"Do you need to look at the list again?"  
Marth made a gesture for Link to give him the list; Link removed the scribbled on and it-looks-like-it-went-through-Hell-and-back song list and handed it to him.

"Hmm," the prince said, flipping through the pages. "Not that one..."  
Link took out his Nintenpod and flipped through his song list.  
"I have all of the songs on that list on my N-pod," Link said, placing the earbud in his ear. "In case you see anything interesting and you want to hear it or something."  
_Link has _way_ too much time on his hands_, Marth thought as he flipped through more pages.  
"'Dreams Come True'?" Marth questioned, pointing to the aforementioned song on the page.  
"What about it?" Link asked, still sifting through his song list.  
"It sounds interesting," Marth remarked, flipping the list back to the first page, and held it out to the blond. Link took it and attached it back to his clipboard.  
"Let me find it," he said, "so you can listen to it."

Link sat down onto the cleaned-twice-a-year floor to the left of Marth and pressed "play" on his Nintenpod. The music was loud enough that Marth didn't need headphones to hear the music at all--Marth figured it was louder than it honestly should.  
"Let's go with that," Marth said, drawing his legs up to his chest. "It sounds fine, albeit a bit sappy."  
Link switched the song to something else and wrote Marth's song choice onto the paper with all the information on it. He then scribbled the previous song choice out until it was nothing but blue ink scribbles.  
"Just to finalise," Link said, "You're singing 'Cry for the Dream', 'Spiritualized', and 'Dreams Come True', yes?" Marth nodded and Link checked it all off and circled things.

"And all of my crap is final," Link said, marking everything up and then writing a big "C" over it.  
"So. Nothing can be changed now, you're shit out of luck, etc. etc."  
Roy was hacking up monsters with his hoe.  
"Christmas's coming up," Roy said. "Anyone doing anything special?"  
Link shrugged.  
"I'll probably spend it with Zelda, that is, if she's going home or wherever."  
"What about you, Marth?" Roy asked, swinging his DS around in time with his hoe-slinging. "Where're you going?"  
Marth sighed.  
"As of now, I'm not sure. I got an e-mail from Sheeda and she wants to spend it with her parents, so..."

"Speaking of Sheeda," Link interrupted, "Does she know about...you and Red?"  
It took Marth a second or two to realise who "Red" was, and wished Link would stop giving them nicknames that were cliché.  
"Yes, she does," Marth answered simply.  
"And?" Link pressed, crawling over to the middle of the hallway so he faced Marth. He leaned closer, clearly after "breaking news" he could spread all over the school--which was why Marth dubbed him "Mr. Gossip" in the first place.  
"'And' what?" Marth asked nonchalantly, picking lint off his pant leg as he did so. Link almost fell into Marth's lap.  
"What did she say?" Link asked, his face inches away from Marth's. Roy butted in at that point, putting his hand in the gap between the blond's and the bluenette's faces.  
"Marth needs his personal space," Roy said, looking at Link from the corner of his eye.

Link backed off and crossed his arms.  
"I'm just curious," Link said, imaginary cat tail swishing from side to side.  
"You don't need to practically _kiss_ him to get any info out of him," Roy commented, moving his hand so it was out of Marth's face.  
"If you say so," Link commented back. "So what did Sheeda say?"  
Marth crossed his arms and closed his eyes.  
"Basically," he began, "she said it was fine so long as 'it's not with another woman'."  
Link sat back on his knees and rubbed the back of his neck.  
"...I'm guessing if it were another woman she'd think you were trying to say something?"  
Marth nodded and opened his eyes again.  
"She'd think she wasn't putting out enough or something," Marth said, shifting in his spot on the floor, and left it at that.

-x-

"Hey, did you notice Sensei's been in the bathroom for like, twenty minutes?"  
Marth and Roy both didn't care about Mewtwo's bathroom habits, and thought it was slightly creepy that Link actually cared. Roy traded in his DS for the book in his bag (after making sure his DS was tucked _perfectly_ into its traveling case--Marth must have rubbed off on him), and was too busy reading it to care about what Mewtwo was even _doing_ in the bathroom. He drew his knees up and supported the book with them, arms resting on his stomach. Marth was leaning against Roy's shoulder half asleep, listening to the occasional page turning.  
"No, Link," Marth said sarcastically, "we didn't notice Mewtwo's being in the bathroom for twenty minutes."

Link sniffed the air and noticed a foul odour permeating from the Mens' Faculty bathroom and decided that, since it was a single stall bathroom, it had to be coming from Mewtwo.  
"I think Sensei laid one," Link remarked, covering his nose and mouth with his green hat. Marth sighed.  
"You sure it wasn't you?" Roy asked before Marth could respond.  
"No, I'm sure," Link said. "You would've known it was me."  
After finding out more about Link than they cared to know, Marth drifted off to sleep and Roy managed to get half-way through the novel he was reading.

"Why are there only like, three people here?" Stephen asked as he and Nicholas walked through the nearly-deserted hallway.  
"Because it's a delayed opening?" Nicholas answered, adjusting the straps of his bag. They stopped by Stephen's locker, which wasn't far from the Fire Emblem boys and Link.  
"Yeah, but it's three minutes to nine," Stephen said, entering the combination to his lock in.  
"You spelled the word wrong," Nicholas said, pointing the typo out.  
"I did that on purpose," Stephen replied, yanking on letter combo lock so it would unhook. "So even if they know what the word is, they'll spell it the right way and still be locked out." He opened his locker and several textbooks, a sweater, and a half full bottle of iced tea fell out. The brunette watched as Stephen moved away from the sea of books and picked some up.  
"I seriously think we need to clean our locker out one of these days," Nicholas said, placing the books wherever they would fit. Stephen kicked some aside and retrieved the books needed until lunch.  
"Nah," Stephen replied. "Everything's fine. Just gotta...shove everything back in, you know?" Stephen shoved everything back into the locker and hastily kicked the door closed.

"...Stephen, are you alright?"  
Stephen said nothing, due to the fact that the contents of the locker they shared covered him completely. The door had swung back open from the weight of all the crap in the locker and spilled out, hitting Stephen with everything.  
"Steph?"

Gary passed by them and felt compelled to help, but he ignored it and continued on his merry way. What would his father say if he ever found out he helped Nicholas? Their fathers were sworn enemies, after all. His father's word was law.

Mewtwo finally came out of the bathroom, trying to discreetly spray some air freshener into the bathroom. Link, of course, saw Mewtwo's action, and wrote down all about it for the "Academian", the school's newspaper he was Editor of. He even had his own column in the paper, aptly titled, "Mr. Gossip's Gossip!".  
"The bell should be ringing at any moment," Marth said, waking up from his very brief nap. Roy marked the page he was on and closed the book with a muted slam, placed it in his book bag, and waited for the bell to go off. Link grinned like the Cheshire Cat once again, and the Fire Emblem boys knew Link was up to no good.

Mewtwo's reputation was about to die.

-x-

"I feel I must talk to all of you about a disturbing trend I'm seeing from the Second Year class."  
When Mewtwo would float back and forth and start with the whole, "I feel I must talk to you all" spiel, it was not a good sign. It was a sign that you should ask to use the restroom and stay there for most of the class period, or to pretend you were listening even though you were, in reality, daydreaming about dinner or sports or headless chickens or even a certain blue haired, tiara wearing prince's behind.

Why was it such a bad thing? It meant the inevitable _lecture_. Mewtwo was notorious for wasting most of the class period lecturing about stuff no one cared about--things like a fundraising committee, for instance--or things he felt were important that really weren't. So Mewtwo stopped in front of his desk and took his pointer stick from the chalk ledge, twirled it around, and began.  
"I have noticed a decline in homework reception."  
_Do we really _care Kweenetra thought bitterly, her head balanced in her hands.  
Mewtwo saw the blank stares on his students' faces.  
"Only two people consistently hand in their homework," Mewtwo said, floating back and forth, still twirling the pointer stick.  
"They are the only two getting A pluses in my class. The rest of you are..."

Mewtwo stopped in front of Link's desk.  
"Failing," Mewtwo finished. Link pretended he was paying attention and nodded his head.  
"Failing?" Gary Stu Wesker asked, the only one in the class actually paying attention.  
"_Yes_," Mewtwo said. "Failing. Or in danger of."

It was at that moment that everyone, including Gary, stopped paying attention, because Mewtwo went off to a topic that somehow related to world domination and how one plans it. Of course, no one cared, and it had nothing to do with Japanese class.

After there was only ten more minutes of class left, Stephen raised his hand and waved it around slightly.  
"Yes, Stephen?"  
"We were supposed to have a Kanji test today," the boy reminded, and caused all of the class to turn and look at him.  
"Shut _up_, Stephen," Nicholas said, elbowing the blond in the ribs. "You're not supposed to remind him."  
Mewtwo had already gotten the loose leaf paper out and was in the process of passing it out to the class.  
"The usual heading, please," Mewtwo said. "We're having our Yookosoo Chapter One _kuizu_." Mewtwo wrote the proper heading on the board, and underneath that he drew three columns.  
"The first column," he said, gesturing to the board, "will contain the Kanji character or characters of the word I give you." He then pointed to the second column.  
"The second column will contain the Hiragana, that is, the word I give you. So you won't forget, or if you forget the Kanji, you can not lose some points."  
"What about the last one?" Gary asked, pointing to the final column on the board. Everyone else was dividing their papers into three and labeling each.  
"You put the English in it," Mewtwo replied.

Mewtwo started off easy, giving them words like _nihongo_ and _mokuyoubi_ and gradually got harder, giving them things like _denwa_ and _taikokan_. Link was having a hard time drawing the figures, not because he didn't know how to, but because it was difficult due to the fact that he was not, in fact, right handed. As a result, his writing was barely legible and the Kanji looked like three year old scribble doodles. He cursed inwardly and tried to glance at Gary's paper, but Gary had nothing filled in.  
"Knew I should've taken that Hylian language course instead," Link muttered. "I would've gotten an A plus in that course."  
Marth and Roy, however, were having little to no problems with the quiz, and when Mewtwo said to hand in their papers, they were the only ones who had everything filled in.

"This is quite disappointing," Mewtwo said, flipping through the papers and briefly glancing at them. "Link, I have no idea what the hell your paper says, and Gary didn't even _put something down_. I am disappointed. Very much so." And so, Mewtwo launched into another lecture, went through the bell, and ranted to no one in particular as the First Year class walked in one by one.

-x-

"The schedule for today is as follows," the man over the intercom said, clearing his throat. "Period two, period three, period seven, and period eight. All periods are shortened down to a half hour. School is dismissed at one o'clock this afternoon, and all help periods are canceled. Thank you."  
Of course the stupid administration decided it would be a good idea to announce what the schedule was like _while people were walking to their next class_. It wasn't like it was a travesty, but it was an inconvenience. You could barely hear the announcement, anyway, and figured the teachers probably received a memo with the schedule on it.  
At least, Marth hoped so. He liked to know when classes started and ended so he could budget his time on various assignments.

Marth arrived in the gymnasium and sat in Section P of the bleachers with his other classmates. It would be a waste of time to have the students change, only to have fifteen minutes left of the period to do anything. So they decided it would be best for them to just not change and to sit there and do nothing. It didn't bother Marth in the least.  
It was very loud in the gym, and you could barely hear yourself think over the noise, but Marth was good at blocking things that annoyed him out. He scrounged around in his book bag for his copy of "Catcher in the Rye", and when he found it, opened it and began to read. Mr. Falcon looked around on the bleachers, saw that half of the class was missing, marked the ones who were there "in class", and walked away to chat with Ms. Aran, possibly ask her out on a date.

It was then that Marth felt a little odd. It wasn't that he felt faint, or that he felt like he was about to vomit, he just felt rather odd, like something was missing...  
Marth, out of habit, reached for his headpiece so he could have something to mess with whilst he read.  
It wasn't in his hair.  
With a cry, he laid the contents of his book bag onto his lap--books, notebooks, a comb, keys to his room and the Manse, his cellphone, and a bottle of hand sanitiser--and analysed it to see if it was among the items. When he realised that his tiara was not, in fact, among the items in his bag, he dumped them back into his bag and let out another cry of alarm.

If Elice found out, Marth was a dead prince.

Meanwhile, Roy handed Ms. Toadstool his transfer slip with his and his father's signatures on it. Ms. Toadstool smiled, signed and dated it, and filed it away.  
"I'll give this to your counselor when I see him next," she said, and Roy walked back over to his seat and sat down.  
"So you're transferring out?" Link whispered, ignoring the worksheet he was supposed to be completing. Roy nodded.  
"Yeah, I am."  
"Did you need your father's advice on this one?" Link joked, and rubbed his head from the smack Roy gave him in response.  
"I asked for his advice on my classes _once_, alright?"

Link poked Roy in between the shoulder blades with the eraser of his pencil.  
"I thought you were supposed to be not-violent," the blond said, leaning forward in his seat.  
"I'm _am_," Roy replied. "I could hit you harder if I really wanted to, but I don't want you slamming your head into the desk and getting a concussion. I'm not that mean."  
Link took Roy's word for it and went back to his problems about Proving Triangles Congruent.  
"Link," Ms. Toadstool said in a sing-song sort of way, "I need your transfer slip so you can be moved to Algebra One." Link went through the pockets on his blazer, shirt, and pants before pulling out the lint-covered piece of paper, which was crumbled and ripped at the edges.  
"Do you have it signed?"  
Link sighed.  
"I don't have parents, and my guardian has no arms."  
Ms. Toadstool took it anyway and filed it away.  
"It's quite all right, Link," she said, and Link went dejectedly back to his seat.

"She _had_ to bring up the Great Deku Tree," Link said, depressed. Roy said nothing in reply and worked on his problems.

-x-

Roy and Link walked to the gym in silence. Roy opened the door and nearly got knocked over by one of the seniors running out through the very same door, and Link tripped over his shoelace and pushed Roy through the door and onto the floor.  
"Help me, I'm being molested!" Roy shouted from the ground, not realising it was Link who was on top of him.  
"Roy, you dolt!" Link said, his voice muffled from Roy's hair. "It's _me_."  
It didn't make Roy feel any better. He managed to push Link off of him and pick himself off the ground, helped Link up off the nasty gym floor, and continued to walk to Section O, which was right next to Mr. Falcon's class.

"Hey Roy," Link said, grabbing Roy's arm so he wouldn't walk any further, "what's that thing over in Section P? It's kind of shiny."  
Roy sighed and looked in the direction of Section P. Link and his attraction to shiny objects often got them into trouble with Marth or some muscular male who looked like a prison inmate.  
"It's probably nothing," Roy reasoned, continuing to walk up the bleachers. Link, who was a curious person by nature, walked over to Mr. Falcon's class section and investigated the matter.  
"This looks like..." Link picked the object up and examined it closely to make sure nothing was wrong with it. After it passed with flying colours, he carefully made his way up to where Roy was in Section O.

"What's that you're holding?" Roy asked, pointing to the object in the blond's hands. "It looks like--"  
"It is," Link interrupted, finishing Roy's sentence.  
"...What was it doing on the floor?" Roy wondered aloud, shrugging the strap of his bag off his shoulder.  
"From the looks of where it was laying and the position it was in," Link said, sounding like a police detective, "I'd deduce that someone knocked it off."  
Roy scoffed.  
"He practically has it _glued to his head_."  
Link shrugged.  
"I'm only telling you what I know, 'kay? Don't go spoutin' off nonsense."  
Roy had no idea what Link was talking about, decided it was best to not ask, and left it at that.  
"We don't have fourth period today," Link said. "Otherwise we could give it to him then."  
Roy pondered for a minute.  
"He usually goes to his locker before eighth period," Roy said slowly, still thinking.  
"Yeah, but his locker's all the way in the new building, and our eighth period's on the fourth floor.

Roy sighed.  
"Our seventh period's a floor under his locker. We can go up there and wait for him to come, then go up to eighth period afterwards," Roy said, explaining everything with elaborate hand gestures. Link just stared.  
"Or," Link said, "we could wait until _after_ eighth period."  
Roy glared at him.  
"I don't trust you with it. With our luck, you'd trip and crack it in half or something."  
Link offered it to Roy by shoving it in his face.  
"Then _you_ take it."

Carefully, Roy took the object, wrapped it in one of his spare book socks, and placed it in a part of his book bag where he knew it wouldn't break.  
"I hope he won't be _too_ pissed or anything," Link said.  
"Why would he be pissed off at _us_?" Roy asked. "It's not like _we_ knocked it off. He has what's-his-face in his class who absolutely hates him."  
"Shawn?"  
"Yeah," Roy said. "That guy. He could've knocked it off while he wasn't paying attention and didn't notice until the period ended or something and there was no time to look for it."

Whatever the case was, they didn't know. They were just lucky a kleptomaniac didn't decide it was nice and shiny and expensive and pick it up off the bleacher floor and sell it for about three hundred thousand dollars.

Maybe Marth wasn't going to be dead after all.

-x-

Seventh period was a bore, Roy thought as he walked up the less-traveled-on stairwell to the third floor of the new building. He clutched his copy of "Silas Marner" under his arm as he pulled the door open and was greeted by a blast of cold air. Walking as quickly as possible, he went over to the locker he and Marth shared, unshackled it, and jammed all his books onto his designated shelf, stowing "Silas Marner" to the side of the book pile so he wouldn't lose it. After he did that, he retrieved his Biology textbook and notebook from the top of the pile, shoved them into his bag, and waited for his blue headed companion to show up.

After waiting about thirty seconds, Marth had appeared through the throng of people, flustered beyond belief. After neatly placing his books onto the bottom shelf of the locker, Roy decided it was as good time as any to give Marth the object he and Link found in the gym.  
"Here, Marth," Roy said, deftly removing the book cover-wrapped object from his bag, and handed it to the Altean.  
"What's this?" Marth asked, staring at it.  
"Open it and see," Roy said, glanced at the clock in the hallway, and added quickly, "I have to go or I'll be late. See you in thirty minutes!"

Marth had never seen Roy run so fast in his life, half from his going to be late and the fact that a hall monitor was chasing after him for speeding in a walking zone. Marth closed the locker, shackled the lock, and walked to his eighth period class down the hall, wondering what it was Roy gave to him.

He entered the Band room and took his usual seat in between Kelly the flutist (who used to play Clarinet but decided he hated it and that there were too many and switched to flute) and Kevin the saxophonist.  
"We're just practising for the concert," Kelly said, going through his manuscript book to find the music he needed to play. "There's not enough time to really learn anything new."  
So Marth dropped his bag to the floor and opened the book sock-covered "gift". His jaw dropped when he saw what was inside.  
"I'm not going to be killed!" Marth said cheerfully, removing the royal headpiece from the cloth, and examined it.  
"And not one scratch or chip, either."

After placing it back into his hair, he got up, retrieved his flute from his cubbie hole, sat down, and played Christmas songs until one of the other band members gagged from being sick of hearing them.  
"Hmm," the boy said, "I don't remember having carrots..."  
Marth gagged and Kelly turned green. Kevin, who had a weak stomach, ran to the nearest trash can and proceeded to follow the other kid's lead.  
"...I'm glad I didn't have breakfast," Marth said, and went back to playing his flute.

Meanwhile, in Link and Roy's Biology class, Mr. Watch decided that, since the periods were shortened, they would watch a documentary on Meiosis, which was what they were currently learning in class. Most of the class was asleep or half-way there, and Roy was struggling to not scream and knock himself out by slamming his head into his desk top. Link was blankly staring at the television before his head collided with his desk and he fell asleep. Roy swore Link was snoring, but it was hard to tell since everyone else just about was. So Roy, being a rather bright and intelligent person, decided to keep himself from going insane by writing a story about samurai chickens going up against the ninja cows and submit it to the literature magazine the Academy had called "Lux". He named the head chicken "Mars" and the head cow "Rink" and have them duke it out with nunchaku and katana.

Gary, who had to retake Biology due to "undisclosed reasons", shrieked because he thought a spider was infected by the T-Virus and promptly fell backwards in his chair and landed smack dab on the floor, unconscious. Mr. Watch, who was asleep, did nothing except grunt in response. At least they _thought_ Mr. Watch grunted. It was more of a "BOOP" than a grunt, really.

Mars the head chicken samurai had managed to decapitate Rink the head cow ninja in a battle of wits and sparkly sword maneuvers. Roy snickered to himself and wondered whether or not to show Marth the story.

No one paid any attention to the boring old documentary. Not even the teacher, which was, to put it lightly, sad and pathetic.

-x-

"Hey guys!" Link said cheerfully as he rounded the corner of the hallway where Marth's locker was. "Did everything go al--holy shit!"  
Marth had Roy's arms pined above his head against the locker with one hand, the other had pulled the red head as close as humanly possible to the prince. Roy pulled at Marth's bottom lip slightly, and Marth took that as a hint that Roy wanted more than just a peck on the mouth.  
All the while, everyone else was trying not to stare at the quite oblivious Fire Emblem boys, whilst Link was opening staring at the two and wanted to know where Marth's decency standards had gone. (He had an idea, though, and it involved a window, a steam roller, and a parade float.) Link cleared his throat and pushed through the ring of people surrounding the passionately-kissing-and-groping couple and shouted, "Where has your decency gone?!"

Marth moved to Roy's neck, oblivious to Link's shouting, and gently sucked on the flesh there. Roy, whose hands were still above his head, moved his arms higher to try to regain some sort of circulation. He opened his eyes, saw the crowd of people, and freed his arms from Marth's grasp.  
"M-Mar...th," Roy said in between gasps, "there are...there are p-people _wat-ching_."  
Marth heard "people watching" and immediately pulled away from Roy.  
"Alright, nothing to see here," Link said, taking the hint from the very flushed couple. "Move along, move along. You can read about it and see pictures of it in the 'Academian'. Run along..."

Link swore Marth's face was redder than Roy's hair, and Roy's hair was as red as red could get without being blinding. So now Marth's hair completely clashed with his face, and that was the least of his problems.

-x-

"Can't you wait until we're _home_ before you start slobbering all over each other?" Link asked as they walked down Devon Street towards Nintendo Road. "I mean really. I'm completely shocked at you both. Especially you, Marth."  
Marth cleared his throat.  
"It was Roy's idea."  
Link spun around on his heel and nearly caused the prince and the general to bump into him.  
"I don't care _whose_ idea it was."  
Roy backed away from Link.  
"Link, you're sounding like my father," the red head remarked, "whenever I do something terribly wrong."  
Link crossed his arms and faced forward again. The others continued walking.

"This makes all three of us look bad," Link said. "It makes me, class president and editor to 'Academian', look bad, it makes Marth look bad, and it completely flushes your reputation down the drain, mister Fence Club President."  
Roy sighed.  
"In our defence," Roy said, "the hallway was completely deserted when we started, and we were only kissing."  
"Yeah," Marth said. "The groping came in later."  
Link fell back and wrapped an arm around their shoulders.  
"If you do that again," Link said, "I will totally smite thee."  
Roy snorted and Marth tried hard to not laugh.  
"...What?"  
"You used the word 'smite'!" Roy said, barely coherent. "No one uses that word anymore!"  
Link smirked and playfully shoved Roy, who in turn shoved back. Link bumped into Marth, who almost lost his footing, and he pushed Link back. This continued all the way home, and Link was nearly shoved through the window of the Manse.

The Hands wouldn't like it if that happened.


	7. Chapter 7

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Seven-**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Super Smash Brothers Melee. It belongs to Hal Laboratories/Nintendo. No profit is being made from this story, it's just for fun. Stephen Alvarez, Nicholas Ryan Pickel/Nicholas Leon Redfield, and Gary Stu Wesker are original characters created by me for this story. "Dragostea Din Tei", "Dragostea Din Tei (English version)", "Far Away", "Broken", "Spiritualized", and "White Houses" belong to O-Zone (both Dragostea versions), Nickelback, Lindsey Haun, Hikaru Midorikawa, and Vanessa Carlton, respectively.

**Warnings:** Two guys make out, and there are some non-descript sex acts. And when I say non-descript, I mean it's implied that it's happening, but there's no detail about it except what the recipient thinks about it.

"Has anyone seen Roy?"

Peach looked up from making a cake to see a semi-disheveled Marth in the kitchen doorway.

"No," the blonde princess said. "I haven't seen him since five this morning. He asked for tea, and then went back upstairs."

Marth thought for a moment.

"Did he say where he was going?"

Peach placed the cake into the oven and wiped her hands on a towel.

"He didn't mention anything, no."

Marth thanked her and left the kitchen, walking instead to the corridor that lead to the stairs of the second floors of The Manse. Placing a hand on the banister and a foot on the bottom step, he thought of all the places Roy would go on a Sunday morning. Picking one of the possible places (and there were quite a few), the pajama-bedecked prince briskly walked up the stairs and went through the left door--the door that lead to the male dormitories.

He walked through the open door to his room, opened the middle drawer of his dresser, and searched for something more suitable to wear. Finding a white dress shirt half-buttoned up (probably from his uniform, one would guess) and jeans, he pulled off his periwinkle coloured PJ top and folded it neatly for later use. Pulling his head through the clean shirt and letting the cloth bunch up around his neck, he slipped out of his bottoms and nearly tripped over the pant leg. Regaining his balance, he grabbed a pair of jeans from the back of his chair, disentangled himself from the silken pants, and slipped the denim pants on, all the while the door was half -open; Marth knew someone would possibly barge in, but he didn't care--he was decent, for the most part anyway--and got his arms through the arm holes in his shirt. He was too lazy to find some suitable footwear and instead slipped back into his slippers. Closing the drawer and placing his sleepwear neatly on his bed, he walked out the door, exited the dorms, and walked up the single stairwell across from the dorms to the third floor, which housed a rather large library.

He looked through the rectangular shaped window in the door and saw no one was in there (that he could see, anyway, as his line of sight wasn't very large), but he decided to enter anyway. Roy had a habit of hiding behind one of the bookcases with a large stack of books in his hands and several more under his arm.

It was warm and cozy in the library--Master Hand decided it would be good to actually _use_ the fireplace--and Marth idly walked through the various bookshelves to find the red head.

"Roy?" Marth called, standing still for a minute so he could hear some sort of response easily. He received none and so he kept walking.

As Marth figured, Roy was hiding behind one of the shelves with his arms wrapped around several tomes of indecipherable titles, looking for another good read amongst the several thousand books lining the Pledge-scented shelves.

"Roy." Marth stopped beside the end of the bookcase, a smirk on his face. "Knew I'd find you here."

Roy looked up from his book search to stare at the blue haired swordsman and smiled.

"Of _course_ you'd find me here," Roy said, balancing the tomes against the shelf ledge so he wouldn't drop them. "I don't go anywhere else on a Sunday, you know."

Roy plucked another book from the shelf and added it to his growing pile before deciding that was enough for that moment. Roy walked over to Marth and gestured over to the long table with several chairs by the fireplace.

"'S where I'm sitting, so you're welcome to join me if you want." Roy walked over to the aforementioned table and Marth followed, interested to find out just what Roy did up in the library, exactly. Roy sighed as he sat down on the seat right in front of the fireplace, the seat catching on the rug at first. Marth noticed Roy's chair was partially sideways but decided to ignore it as best as he could. Sitting down next to him, Marth could see the titles of the books better, though he couldn't understand what any of them meant. Roy cracked open one of the books and set it next to another already opened tome, along with a notebook filled with what looked like notes for something.

"Does this have anything to do with school?" Marth asked, head resting on his forearm. Roy removed his reading glasses from the neck of his shirt and put them on.

"No, actually," Roy replied. "It has nothing to do with school."

That piqued Marth's interest.

"I figured that since the titles were all in a foreign language that it was for, say, Japanese class or something," Marth reasoned, leaning back in his chair. "Though I don't recall Mewtwo giving us homework..."

"That's because he didn't," Roy answered, flipping through pages in yet another book. "And the books are all in Elibean, which would explain why you can't read them." Roy's eyes scanned a page and stopped on an interesting segment of text, which he copied down in another language--different from Elibean, Marth noticed--albeit a bit sloppily. The only language from Elibe Marth could understand, from what he had heard from Roy, was "Sacaean", which was like a semi-watered down version of Alteaen. Marth figured Roy was translating it from the common tongue of Elibe to something easier for him to understand.

"So what exactly _is_ all of this stuff?" Marth questioned, gesturing to the three large piles of books by Roy's idle hand.

Roy placed his pen in the nook of the book where the pages connected to the spine and faced him. Roy didn't like having conversations when he wasn't looking at the person he was conversing with.

"Ah...it's basically about the Human-Dragon Wars Elibe had some thousand years ago," Roy explained, turning slightly in his chair so he had a better view of Marth. "And the things that went with it. I'm especially interested in the whole dragon thing."

Marth sat sideways in his seat, arm resting on the back of the chair, one leg crossed over the other.

"...Why is it that every time I see you here you're doing more and more research on Dragons?" Marth asked. "There's nothing particularly interesting about them, unless there's something I missed."

Roy smiled.

"There are some things you still don't know about me, you know," Roy said, fully turning in his seat, and leaned forward so his elbows rested on his knees.

Marth caught the playful air about the red head and smirked.

"Oh?" Marth said, dramatically raising his tone. "Like _what_?"

Roy shrugged.

"Like about my whole entire family, select things about myself...and hobbies outside of the sword, computers, and you." Roy smirked at the last part, and Marth's cheeks flushed a bit.

Clearing his throat, Marth leaned forward so he was at eye level with the general.

"Then enlighten me, General Roy."

Roy placed a finger over Marth's lips and he grinned mischievously.

"Eventually," Roy said. "I think you should meet my family first."

Marth leaned back and raised an eyebrow.

"You're making it sound like you have a large family."

Roy shrugged.

"There are lots of people I consider 'family' that aren't blood related. Like Marcus."

Marth had heard brief mentioning of him before, but nothing in extreme detail. Marth gestured with his hand for Roy to continue.

"Well," Roy said, "I basically grew up with him. He's one of my father's vassals--his most trusted one, might I add--and he looked after me when I was a kid, taught me the sword, told me embarrassing stories about my father...you know. He's...he's a, uh, father figure, I guess. I used to call him 'Uncle Marcus'."

Marth snickered. "Why'd you stop?"

Roy shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I just kind of grew up."

Marth shrugged.

"I would hope so. You don't _act_ like you're five..."

"So I've been told," Roy replied.

"Yes, well, you don't act like you're fifteen, either," Marth argued, crossing his arms. "You act like a twenty year old."

Roy snorted, and turned in his seat so he was facing the table.

"I've been told that, too. Many times, in fact. I think you kind of _have_ to when you're thrust into the middle of a war and you have to lead an army."

Marth moved his chair over so he was closer to Roy.

"So you've told me," Marth murmured in Roy's ear, and the latter shivered, even though it was about seventy five in the room. Marth traced a mark on Roy's right shoulder blade, which caused Roy to shiver again and Marth to thrust a hand under the back of Roy's shirt.

"And I inquired about this" --_this_ being the spot on Roy's shoulder blade he was fingering--"about a month ago, and you said you'd explain all that soon, and you never did."

Roy removed his reading glasses. The mythologies concerning Elibe could wait.

"When was that?" Roy asked, allowing himself to be pulled into Marth's arms. Marth pondered for a moment.

"I said last month, didn't I?"

Roy pouted.

"What were we _doing_ that led you to ask that question?"

Marth shrugged.

"I think we were showering together."

Roy turned slightly in Marth's embrace so he was sort of facing the bluenette.

"You shrug too much," Roy stated.

"And you're avoiding the question," Marth said, kissing Roy's forehead.

"I am not!" Roy said, disentangling his arms, and wrapped them around Marth's neck.

"Then tell me," Marth ordered, staring straight into Roy's eyes.

Roy sighed.

"It's...well, I really don't know, to be quite honest."

Marth quirked an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Marth was confused, which was an understatement.

Roy laughed nervously.

"Yeah, I know, it makes no sense. My father always said it was a birthmark, but I've never heard of anything looking like what I have. It looks more like a tattoo or a brand than a birthmark, if you want the truth."

Marth sat back in his chair after letting Roy go.

"Maybe your father knows something about it and isn't telling you?"

It was Roy's turn to shrug.

"I could ask him, but he probably won't say anything." Roy went back to his notes, and Marth just sat there and stared.

"I always knew you were the reading type," Marth said. "I could just tell."

Roy chuckled.

"I practically grew up in a library. My father likes to read, so I guess I was kind of brought up on it."

Marth's head leaned against his forearm once again.

"Is he also the one you got your interest in Dragons and mythology from?"

"Uh huh," Roy said, turning the page. "Though his interests mostly lie in Dragons now, for some weird reason. I think one of his lovers was part Dragon or something."

Roy could sense Marth's stare.

"What?" the red head asked, his focus still on the book he was reading.

"I thought you said your father only loved one woman?"

Roy closed the book and placed it on the smaller of the three piles.

"Doesn't mean he didn't have suitors."

Marth spotted the loophole in Roy's storytelling and wanted all the information he could get from it.

"You specifically told me your grandfather had no interest in setting your father up on blind dates."

Roy sighed and placed a hand on Marth's shoulder.

"Must you know _everything_?"

Marth smirked.

"Oh yes. I must. Your family fascinates me." Marth kissed Roy's cheek. "And you brought it up."

"My mother was _Ilian_," Roy said, closing his notebook.

"...Does your father tell you_ anything_? Like, stories about when he was younger and such?"

Roy had gotten up by this time and was pushing his chair in.

"...He keeps his past a complete secret," Roy replied sarcastically. "He just doesn't like to talk about it much. Marcus told me a lot about it, though, so I guess it's okay."

Marth grabbed Roy's wrists and pinned them to the edge of the table.

"Marth!" Roy said, his face a light pink. "Someone might _see_."

The red head ended up falling on top of the wooden table, and Marth nudged one of Roy's legs aside so he could be half-way between them.

"Roy, everyone avoids the library like it's tuberculosis."

Roy sat up as much as he could, his wrists still pinned to the table.

"_Zelda_ is a frequent visitor, and I don't want her to see us in such a compromising--"

Roy's protests stopped when Marth captured Roy's lips in a passionate kiss.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Roy nearly pushed Marth out the window, or would have if said window was opened.

Zelda, Hylian folklore in hand, stood in the back exit of the library with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Uh...no! No, you weren't interrupting anything at all!" Roy said, a bit too fast and a bit too high. Marth picked himself off the floor and nodded over enthusiastically.

"Come on, Marth," Roy said, grabbing the bluenette's hand, "we're going to Link's practises. Bye Zelda!"

Before Zelda could do or say anything, Roy had dragged Marth out of the library and off to find Link.

-x-

"Hey, that's not fair!" Link threw down his controller and was ready to throw something, preferably his younger half.

"It so _is_!" the younger Link replied, getting in Link's face.

"I specifically said _no wavedashing_."

Young Link stuck out his tongue. "Just because _you_ can't wavedash doesn't mean you have to take it out on me. I won fair and square and you know it."

The door to their room opened and Roy and Marth stood on the other side, Roy's hand still on the doorknob.

"I feel as if I just walked into the Twilight Zone," Roy said, walking into the room Young Link and Link shared. He shielded his eyes from the blind-less windows and Marth squinted at the older Hylian.

"Haven't you heard of blinds?" Marth asked, holding his hand above his eyes like a visor. Link shrugged and glared as Young Link crawled over to the Gamecube games bin, pulling random games out in search of a specific one.

"Back in Kokiri Forest, we didn't have blinds. Or shades, for that matter. Just curtains," Link said.

"But Kokiri Forest was in the _shade_," Young Link corrected. "That's why we never had them."

Link shrugged. "Whatever, mini-me."

Young Link sighed and ceased rummaging through the games bin.

"Okay, older me, 'fess up. Where'd you hide it?"

Link pretended he had no idea what his "younger brother" was talking about.

"Where'd I hide _what_?"

Young Link placed his hands on his hips.

"Only my favourite game in the entire _world_."

Link deadpanned.

"Oh yes," he said in a rather unenthusiastic tone. "_That_. It's at the bottom."

Link stood up and walked over to where the Fire Emblem boys were while Young Link at last found _The Wind Waker_.

"So! Are we up for some practising?" the blond asked as he pushed Marth and Roy out of his bedroom and closed the door behind them.

"On a Sunday?" Roy asked, pulling his cellphone out. He flipped it open to see he had seven missed calls.

"Well yeah," Link replied. "I mean, it's kind of the only day we have to practise. Tomorrow's the auditions and then after that's the show."

Marth nodded his head. "He has a point, you know."

Roy was scrolling through his "missed calls" list when he overheard something about "auditions". He closed the cover of his cellphone and pocketed it.

"Wait, the auditions are tomorrow?"

Link sighed and rubbed his temples.

"_Yes_. Which is why we need to practise."

Marth and Roy had never seen Link so serious.

Young Link opened the door and poked his head out.

"Speaking of practise," the boy said, "we have try-outs for the Tournament, too."

Link shoved Young Link back inside the room and closed the door.

"We can worry about that afterwards."

Roy looked at Marth and then at Link.

"But the Tournament's more important than some stupid talent show," Roy argued, crossing his arms. Link waved a hand to dismiss what Roy said.

"I'm going with Roy on this one," Marth said. "The Talent Show can be done at some other point."

Link pouted.

"But think of the box of Cheez-Its!"

Link shouted after the quickly retreating backs of Marth and Roy, who had had enough of his babbling.

-x-

"Aah," Roy said, arms crossed behind his head as he walked through the courtyard. The flowers were no longer in bloom, but it was a sunny day out and Roy wouldn't miss the opportunity to spend some time with nature.

"They call this the 'Garden of Love'," Marth stated, looking at his surroundings. "Probably because everyone pretty much met their lovers here, I guess."

Roy spotted the fountain that spilled out into a tiny pond near the back of the garden, where it was also most secluded due to the amount of bushes and hedges surrounding the area. He sat on the built-in ledge, avoiding the tiny puddles on it from the back-splash. Marth sat next to him.

"You've gotta admit," Marth said. "This _is_ pretty romantic." He wrapped an arm around Roy's waist and pulled him closer.

"Was it right of us to just blow Link off like that? He's really psyched about the Talent Show, and he expects us to be there..."

Marth shrugged.

"I'm not quite sure."

Roy laced his fingers with Marth's.

"He'll end up dragging us into the Battle of the Bands thing, so we might as well just do this. It'll all be over soon. And who knows? We might win."

"We were in second last year," Marth said. "How the heck did Gary win?"

Roy shrugged. "I have no idea."

Roy rested his head against Marth's shoulder.

"...You'll probably win," Marth said, looking at the withered remains of the rose bush. Roy snorted.

"What makes you think that?" the red head asked.

"Well," Marth began, "you're talented, and you never stop singing, for one."

Roy playfully shoved Marth.

"Oh please," he said. "If you tried hard enough, you'd probably have me beat."

Marth would have snorted if he wasn't the upstanding and dignified prince he was raised from birth to be. Instead, he did something that sounded like a laugh and a cough in one.

They stared at each other.

"And then watch," Roy said. "Link will, by some freak miracle, win with his bad techno or his Backstreet Boys or whatever."

It was Marth's turn to playfully shove Roy.

"Be nice, Roy."

A shoving match then commenced, because Marth and Roy were _that_ bored and Roy bet that he could shove Mr. I Weigh Nothing into the fountain with no effort.

SPLASH.

"Roy!"

Well, it didn't take as long as he thought. And, as it turned out, the fountain was rather deep.

"Oh come now, Marth," the red haired swordsman said, smirking. "It's only water. It won't kill your hair or anything."

Marth spat some water out and made a face. _Fountain water...eww._ Or that was what Marth thought, anyway.

"I never mentioned to you that I _can't swim_, did I?"

Roy sighed. "Marth, the water isn't _that_ deep. Give me your hand, and I'll pull you to your feet."

Marth offered his hand for Roy to grab onto so he could be pulled out, albeit dripping wet and not very happy. Roy grabbed onto it, though Marth's hand slipped out of his grasp several times due to the fact that it was _dripping wet_ and kind of slippery, but he managed to grab a hold of it.

Roy braced his legs against the wall of the fountain and pulled, and though Marth wasn't considered heavy by any means, he was still facing some difficulties.

It was at that moment that Marth pulled on Roy--who weighed less than Marth even when wet--and Roy lost his balance and ended up falling on top of Marth.

It was the oldest trick in the book, and Roy fell for it.

Roy gasped for air and glared at Marth, who was laughing his head off.

"M_ar_th..."

"You deserved it, Roy."

Roy smirked when he noticed the position they were both in, and pushed him up against the centrepiece.

"R_o_y," Marth said, "someone might see us."

Roy didn't care, and neither did Marth for that matter, but he just wanted to use Roy's own words against him.

"You _do_ realise that the shrubbery alone will keep us secluded, not to mention all the trees and hedge fences."

"Yes," Marth said. "I do realise it."

Roy grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "Then kiss me."

Marth leaned forward and captured Roy's lips in a rather passionate kiss, leaning forward enough so that Roy was leaning against the fountain ledge and Marth was on top of him, arms on either side of the red head beneath him.

"Why hello there, loverboys."

Roy nearly shoved Marth into the fountain statue, and Marth had almost bitten Roy's tongue before being shoved off.

Roy rolled onto his stomach and Marth came up next to him to see a certain blond swordsman with his arms crossed and the goofiest grin on his face.

"Link..." Marth said, a rough blush on his face. "What did you see?"

Link giggled.

"Oh nothing except your fingers trying to undo Roy's belt. Now...we have to practise for the Talent Show, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Follow me." Link gestured for them to follow him, and so the two sopping wet Fire Emblem boys pulled themselves out of the fountain and followed the blond like ducklings follow their mother.

-x-

"Whoever heard of going to school on a Sunday?" Roy asked, burying his hands deeper into his "Super Smash Bros. Melee est. 2001" hoodie pockets. Marth involuntarily shivered when a rather cold gust of wind smacked them in the faces.

"I've heard of going to Church on a Sunday," Marth said. "But not school."

"Stop complaining," Link said, carrying a few things in his hands. "This is the only place I could get for our rehearsals, so stop yammering about it."

"We're not complaining," Roy said, headphones placed around his neck. "We just think it's sort of odd. Now I _really_ won't know what day it is..."

Marth patted Roy on the back.

"Link never knows what day it is, either," Marth said in an attempt to cheer Roy up. "But that's more because he doesn't really care."

They arrived at Melee Academy, which was unlit on the inside except for the main entrance hallway and the auditorium. The occasional student entering and exiting the building was seen, and Link opened the door, pushed it as far as it could go with his elbow, nearly plowed into one unsuspecting student who looked suspiciously like Gary Stu Wesker, and somehow made it into the auditorium in one piece and without dropping anything. Roy and Marth just stood there as the door closed in front of them, pondering on how Link could selectively multi-task. Deciding they didn't want to know, Roy opened the door for himself and Marth, and basked in the warmth the building's ancient heating system provided for them.

Upon entering the auditorium, they saw a group of girls in non-Melee Academy uniforms giggling over a magazine in the front row seats, Link setting up all the equipment necessary to make their performances "extremely awesome" (in Link's exact words); a group of seniors wearing baseball caps and wife beaters turned sideways, tattoos drawn on their skin with Sharpie; a boy sitting at the piano practising what sounded like "White Houses" by Vanessa Carlton; and someone with what appeared to be a plastic lightsabre.

"I thought this was a closed rehearsal," Marth whispered to Roy, who just shrugged his shoulders and walked down the slightly sloped floor to where Link was, leaving Marth by himself.

"Zee oh em gee!" one of the girls shouted, pointing at the Alteaen prince. "Is that Marth?!"

The other girls' heads quickly turned to face Marth, who did nothing but blink a few times.

_This is what happens when you're famous_, Marth thought, ignoring the legions of girls trying to abduct him and/or get into his pants, and walked as quickly as possible over to Roy.

"You'd think we'd be used to the fangirls," Roy said nonchalantly; Link let out a cry of frustration at the CD player.

"Why isn't this thing _working_?"

Roy pushed Link aside and cracked his knuckles. "Watch and learn, my friend. You have to smack it to get it to work."

Roy made a fist and slammed it down onto the top of the CD player, shaking the table and the objects on it. He pressed "play" and it began playing "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone at the loudest volume allotted.

"There," Roy said, turning the volume on it down. "It works fine now. Sometimes you just have to give it a smacking every now and then."

Link stared at the possibly-half-broken stereo and then at the red head.

"Who told you _that_?"

Roy smiled. "Zelda did. She's had to do it enough times with the stereo. Don't worry, though; she's already broken it."

That didn't seem to make Link feel any better.

-x-

"_I have loved you all along_

_And I miss you_

_Been far away for far too long_..."

Link, clipboard in hand, was scribbling random things down on it, such as track numbers, pitch, volume settings, microphone positions, whether one preferred a headset or a mic...useless things to anyone unless your name was Link Mekkai of Hyrule. He was half-listening to Roy's rendition of a Nickelback song, because he had heard it sung by him several times before (mostly in the shower), and so he knew how it sounded.

Roy hit a sour note, but continued on as if nothing happened, and Marth cringed. If he had to sit through this _one more time_, he was going to scream and possibly chuck the nearest object and the wall.

The song ended and no one clapped or cheered because they were all off in their own little worlds, and Roy didn't really care about the applause anyway. He wiped the sweat off his brow and placed the microphone onto the stand.

"So how was I?" Roy asked, walking over to the edge of the stage. Link was mouthing the words to another song playing on his Nintenpod.

"_When you're broken in a million little pieces_..."

"_Link_!" Roy shouted, jumping off the stage and landing next to the oblivious teen. He pulled the headphones away from the blond's elven ear. "Is anyone _home_?"

Link jumped slightly and turned the song off.

"Don't do that to me, Roy! What're trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

Roy sighed.

"You're hopeless, Link. Now...how was I?"

"You were _fine_. I've said this countless other times."

"You hit a sour note," Marth added, walking over to the two teens. "But other than that, it was fine."

Roy smiled. "Thanks, Marth."

"All right, Marthy," Link said, switching out CDs. "Which song do you want to do?"

_None of them_, Marth thought, but said, "Um...'Spiritualized', I guess." Marth wasn't in the mood to sing, and you had to be in 'the zone' otherwise you would sound like crap, but Marth Lowell did not care. He wanted to get it over with, and quickly.

"You realise there's some Japanese in there--"

"_Yes_," Marth said, climbing onto the stage (no one ever used the stairs). "I'm well aware of that minor fact, Link. Just start the thing."

Link waited for Marth to grab the mic from the stand before pressing play, although that wasn't really necessary since the song had a thirty second long intro, but whatever. Link had only heard the song once or twice, so he didn't remember if there was an intro or not.

In fact, the only reason Link even _had_ the song was because Roy suggested it, and it was techno-ish.

"_Goodbye, cruel world_

_Blow your mind game_

_Goodbye, fresh dead_

_I feel your pain_."

Link cocked an eyebrow, and Roy looked at the lyric sheet.

"This song makes no sense whatsoever," Roy declared after reading two stanzas. Link agreed.

"What possessed Marth to pick _this_ song?" Roy asked, and Link shrugged.

"It was in English?" Link suggested, and Roy just looked at him.

"I hope he knows that there's nothing wrong with singing in another language."

"_Erabareta kagayaki erabareta kanashimi_

_Erabareta nikushimi erabareta doukoku_

_Erabareta renmin erabareta saisan_

_Erabareta shukusei erabareta zanzou_."

"Oh, that's just _annoying_," Link said, but it wasn't directed towards the song. The fangirls, peeved at the lack of attention the boys were giving them, began throwing various things at Link for whatever reason.

"Why're they throwing stuff at you?" Roy asked, watching a full bag of popcorn sailing through the air and towards Link's head.

"Heck if I know!" Link replied, catching the aforementioned popcorn and munching on it. "Mmm, extra butter..."

The song cut out and Marth was tempted to throw the microphone at the fangirls. Instead, he placed it gently and meticulously on the stand and jumped off the stage to join the others.

"Better they're chucking things at you than at me," Marth said, stealing some of Link's popcorn.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Link asked, and Marth grinned evilly.

"Karma hurts, doesn't it, Linky?"

Link shot him a glare and switched out the CDs once again, placing a green coloured one into the player and slamming the top closed.

"Just press play, it's the first track on the thing," Link said as he jumped onto the stage.

Roy pressed "play", and Link took out a remote from him pants pocket. Pressing a button combination, the lights dimmed and the spotlight turned to Link. Pocketing the remote, Link did some dance that involved shaking his chest and his rear, which kind of reminded Marth and Roy of Shakira in some weird and disturbing way.

"_Hello, Salute, it's me, your Duke _

_And I made something that's real _

_To show you how I feel_," Link sang, making some elaborate gestures that could be taken as sexual in nature. Roy's eye twitched and Marth tried very hard to not laugh out loud at Link making an ass out of himself.

Link swung around the microphone stand, and while doing so, pressed a button on his headset that caused the lights to flash as if they were at a Rave. Gary broke out into a seizure, and the fangirls suddenly appeared on stage as the backup singers and dancers.

Marth was trying _really_ hard to contain himself, and Roy had given up a long time ago.

"_When you leave my colors fade to gray _

_Hey, little lover stay _

_Or all my colors fade away _

_Every word of love I used to say _

_Now I paint it everyday_."

Link started breakdancing, doing handstands and weird things with his legs, and then got on his feet and began doing a made up form of dance that resembled Irish Step Dancing. Nicholas was dancing in his seat, Stephen was half-asleep, and Gary was foaming at the mouth and on the ground from the still blinking lights.

Marth was gasping for air, and Roy's face was as red as his hair from laughing so hard.

"I... I think I just... peed a little..." Roy said in between giggling and snorting.

The song ended and Link did a backflip, landing in a split and pyrotechnics went off in the background. Link had outdone himself this time.

Link walked off the stage and over to the stereo. Popping the cover open, he removed the CD and placed it in his CD wallet, zipped the cover up, and placed it in his duffel bag with an assortment of other crap. He looked around and didn't see Marth or Roy anywhere, shrugged, and decided to go to the third floor of the new building to change for cheerleading practise.

-x-

"Marth...oh Elimine..."

Marth nipped at the boy's collar bone and drank in all the little gasps and sighs Roy made. Roy's hand dropped to the back of Marth's head and the bluenette went further down; nimble fingers fell to Roy's belt and Marth slowly undid it. It wasn't like they were going to be disturbed on a Sunday afternoon in the boys' bathroom. He could take all the time he wanted.

Marth rose once again, unzipping Roy's pants and pulling at the elastic of his boxer shorts. Roy's face was flushed and his breathing was heavy and quick. Marth gently bit Roy's lower lip and pulled on it slightly as he pressed up against Roy.

"M-Marth..." Roy said in between gasps. Who knew Marth was so good with his hands?

Roy let out a jagged gasp and grinded against Marth's rough hand, all the while Marth was kissing and sucking Roy's neck.

"How many times must I walk in on you two before my mind gets the message that "weird noises equals sex"?"

Marth froze and Roy almost pulled a little too hard on Marth's tongue.

"L-Link!" Roy said, and turned redder than his hair. Seeing where Marth's hand was, he turned so Marth obscured Link's line of sight.

"Marth," Roy whispered, "get your hand out of my underpants."

Marth quickly complied and Roy struggled to quickly do his pants back up, not caring that his shirt was half off and his hoodie was hanging on one of the bathroom stall hooks.

Link sighed and crossed his arms.

"Still don't understand why you couldn't wait until we got home."

Marth pulled away from Roy and sheepishly grinned.

"It was spur-of-the-moment, I swear," Marth said, grabbing Roy's hoodie and throwing it at him. "He's quite the hornball, you know."

Roy glared. "Oh really? _You're_ the one who undid my pants and--"

Marth placed a hand over Roy's mouth and laughed nervously.

"I really don't care who started it. You shouldn't do it in the bathroom, anyway. You'll get herpes or something! ...Now if you'll excuse me, I need to change for cheerleading practise. You two can go back home, and tell Peach I won't be back for dinner."

Marth and Roy had never been so happy to get out of the bathroom.

-x-

Roy had a cup of ramen sitting on his desk, steam pouring from it, chopsticks stuck in the pile of noodles precariously. He had five word processor windows opened, twelve NIM conversations going on at one time, five internet browser tabs opened to various procrastination-inducing websites, and three textbooks sitting open and untouched on his desk. Marth came into the room then, bathrobe around his body, towel wrapped around his hair. His face was slightly flushed from the hot water, and his hands were kind of shriveled from spending too much time in the bathtub. He closed the door behind him and undid his towel, rubbing it quickly through his hair in an attempt for it to dry faster.

"Did you get your homework done?" Marth asked, throwing the towel in the laundry basket near the door. Roy turned away from his computer monitor and leaned back in his chair.

"Didn't have any," Roy said, pulling on of his headphone ears away from his head so he could hear better. "You?"

Marth nodded. "Of course. What kind of student would I be if I slacked off?"

Roy picked up his cup of ramen, picked up his chopsticks, and jammed some noodles in his mouth, slurping them the whole time.

"It's not proper to slurp," Marth said, walking over to his bed and picking up his pajama top.

"It's _ramen_," Roy said, food still in his mouth. "You're supposed to."

Marth slid the top half of his robe off and shoved his arms through the arm holes of his top, buttoning up the front of it afterwards. He walked over to his drawers, opened one of them, and pulled out clean underwear.

"Don't look," Marth warned, and Roy nearly choked on his dinner.

"'S nothin' I haven't seen before," Roy replied, reading an article on the internet. "You're such a prude, Marthy."

Marth sighed and dropped the rest of his robe, and quickly put his boxers on.

"I know you're peeking at me through the reflection in your monitor," Marth said, grabbing for his PJ bottoms.

Roy snorted.

"Whatever you say, Marthy."

Marth walked over to Roy's chair and leaned against the back of it.

"Don't call me 'Marthy'; you know how much I hate that nickname."

"Really?" Roy asked, setting his half-full cup of noodles down by his keyboard. "I thought it was kind of cute, but if you insist..."

Marth's cheeks felt a little warm but he ignored Roy's comments and instead looked over Roy's shoulder.

"...Why are you looking up tips for 'great buttsecks'?" Marth asked, reading the headline. Roy flushed.

"Just because Link sent me the link in an IM, you pervert," Roy lied, and Marth sidled over to the side of Roy's chair.

"Uh huh. R_igh_t," Marth said. "Like Link would send you tips on how to have awesome sex with a man."

"Hey," Roy said, as Marth turned his chair so he was facing Marth more directly. The prince leaned over and pecked Roy on the mouth.

"You know," Marth said when he leaned back again. "That ramen's not bad. What flavour is it?"

Roy grinned.

"Chicken."

The Alteaen grabbed Roy's hands and pulled him out of the chair, catching Roy's lips again and wrapping his arms around his lover's back.

"Haven't we kissed enough today?" Roy asked, placing a hand between their mouths. Marth instead licked the palm of the red head's hand.

"There's no such thing," Marth answered, pushing Roy's hand aside with his head, and captured Roy in another kiss that made Roy go wild.


	8. Chapter 8

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Eight-**

"Today's the day!"

Link was particularly cheerful, Marth noted as he poured some cream into his tea. Link slid his bag off his shoulder and allowed it to hit the ground with a thud, which caused Marth to jump slightly and nearly fling his spoon through the kitchen window in front of him.

"For what?" Marth asked, using the spoon to mix tea and cream together until it was a light tannish colour. Picking up the cup and saucer, he slowly walked over to his seat and placed the porcelain objects down. Pulling the chair out from under the table, he sat down, crossed one leg over the other, and stirred his tea some more.

"What do you _mean_ 'for what'?" Link asked, grabbing the carton of orange juice from the fridge. After throwing it on the counter, he opened the cupboard above the sink and searched for a glass. "Today's the day for auditions!"

Marth sighed into his cup, causing ripples to form on the liquid's surface, before taking a sip.

"And where the hell's Roy?" Link asked, at last finding a glass. He placed it on the counter, opened the carton, and poured himself some of the citrus drink.

"Showering," Marth replied, shaking a sugar packet so it was all on one side. "Give him some time, it's only six thirty."

Link, glass in hand, leaned against the granite counter and observed his surroundings in the robin's egg blue (which was, according to Peach, the name of the paint they bought) coloured kitchen. He heard the ruffling of papers and saw Marth straighten out the _Nintendo Land Times_ on the kitchen table before ripping the sugar packet open and pouring the contents into his cup. He sipped from his glass and made a face, the orange juice must have expired because it tasted...well...not like orange juice. It tasted like tree bark, and Link knew exactly what tree bark tasted like. Deciding it would be bad to waste his drink, he chugged the whole thing, crinkled his nose at the immensely sour and revolting taste, and turned around to place his glass in the sink.

"Hmm," Marth said, removing the spoon from his mouth. "There's something missing still."

"You know," Link said, staring at Marth's tea, "by the time you drink that, it's going to cease being tea."

Marth, too, stared at the cup, head propped up by his arm. "You know, you're probably right. I think I forgot to ask Peach to buy honey."

Link raised an eyebrow.

"What would you need honey for?"

Marth folded the paper up and pushed it over to where Mewtwo normally sat.

"Because I like cream, sugar, lemon, and honey in my tea."

Link always knew Marth was a little strange when it came to food and beverages, but that took the proverbial cake.

"What?" Marth asked, catching Link's weird look.

"I'm almost afraid to ask how Roy takes his tea," Link said, inching towards the doorway.

"Milk. Roy doesn't like most things sweet," Marth answered, hooking his finger around the handle of the cup. "There's nothing wrong with the tea, per se, I just prefer it with honey, also."

Marth picked up his tea cup, got up, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Link to his thoughts.

- x -

"I don't want to do this."

Marth sighed and folded his arms, empty tea cup on the blue bedspread.

"Did you sign up for the auditions?" Marth asked, leaning against the wooden headboard. His companion sitting beside and slightly in front of him shook his head.

"Why would I sign up for it? I was, you know, happy to do this at first. But now... I don't want to do it anymore." Roy's body leaned forward and he fell forward, his head resting on the pillow beside the cross-legged prince.

"I don't want to do_anything_ anymore. I'm tired and bored of everything." Roy's voice was muffled by the comforter-covered pillow, and Marth rubbed Roy's back.

"You know," Marth mused, "those are the classic signs of depression."

Roy rolled onto his side and faced Marth.

"I'm just _tired_," Roy said, turning onto his back and Marth placed his hand on Roy's stomach.

"You're hungry, too," Marth remarked, poking Roy in the side.

"I don't wanna eat anything," Roy replied, placing his hands behind his head. Marth leaned to the side and kissed Roy's forehead.

"Well, since there's about twelve feet of snow on the ground, they've probably canceled the auditions, anyway. And what with exams coming up..."

Roy perked up.

"There's about a foot of snow on the ground," Roy corrected, ignoring the fact that Marth was merely exaggerating.

"Well," Marth said, "since school's canceled, how about we go somewhere to eat?" Marth got up from the bed, tea cup in hand. "Maybe to that Chinese place that just opened up down the block. I heard it's good."

Roy propped the upper half of his body up using his elbows.

"Sounds tempting," Roy said. "But I think Peach has some spaghetti left over from last night."

Marth slipped into his well worn pair of Nike sneakers and opened the door.

"I'm treating," Marth said, trying to convince Roy to come. He stood in the doorway. "It could be a...a date."

Roy slid off of the bed and grabbed one of his many hoodies off his computer chair.

"Aww, our first date," Roy said all mushy like. "Wait, who's the 'girl'?"

Marth pushed him out into the hall and closed the door behind them. "Roy, we're both guys. There's no such thing."

Roy shoved his hands into his hoodie's pockets and walked down the stairs, Marth behind him.

"I still say the spaghetti would be better," Roy mumbled as Marth looped his arm with Roy's.

"How so?" Marth asked, pulling Roy closer. "What's so romantic about spaghetti?"

Roy grinned. "Well_duh_, Marth. You and I could share it and maybe we'd end up slurping the same noodle and then we'd kiss and--"

"I think you've been watching too many movies," Marth cut in, reaching for Roy's hand in his pocket. "And you don't slurp spaghetti. What kind of noble are you?"

Roy picked his maroon coloured jacket off the coat rack by the front door and shrugged it on, zippering it up some. Marth shoved his arm into his jacket and stopped to zip Roy's jacket up more.

"It's freezing out," Marth said as he zippered his own coat up. "That's all I'd need is for you to get pneumonia."

Roy opened the door, grabbed Marth by the hand ("Wait a second! I don't have my gloves on yet!" Marth said as Roy pulled him through the door), and closed the door behind them when they were on the front porch.

"You must have a fetish for long, flowy cloak-like coats or something," Roy remarked, shoving his hands into his pockets for warmth. Marth scoffed and wrapped an arm around Roy's shoulder to keep him close.

"And you must have a fetish for people with long blue hair," Marth said, smirking. Roy smirked back.

"Only if they wear tiaras."

-x-

"Are you sure this such a good idea?" The Princess of Hyrule was wrapped in a dark pinkish-purple snow jacket, ear muffs covering her still-half-exposed ears. Link's face was pressed against the glass of the Chinese restaurant, looking at the table nearest the door and the couple sitting there.

"Of course I think it's a good idea," Link replied, pulling away from the cold as ice window pane. "Who's the matchmaker here?"

Zelda sighed. "You are." She sounded like she didn't believe him one bit.

"That's right. And I'm determined to make this work."

Zelda put her hood up and shivered. The wind was beginning to pick up, and Zelda wanted to go to a nice, warm place.

"You know, he'd probably kill you if he found out this was all your doing," Zelda said, and opened the door to the restaurant.

"Where are you going?" Link asked, turning towards the door.

"I'm cold and hungry," she replied. "So I'm going to eat and get warmed up. Feel free to spy on them some more."

Link sighed as Zelda walked inside the restaurant. The couple Link was spying on seemed to notice her and waved her over to their table.

Zelda stood by the table and smiled warmly at the couple, removing her gloves.

"So, Nana," Zelda said, stuffing her gloves into her coat pocket, "how are you?"

Nana smiled and sipped at her iced tea.

"Everything's fine, Zellie." Nana glanced at the boy sitting across from her. "Linkie and I are just enjoying lunch. Nothing special, really."

Zelda looked at Young Link and then to the window where Link was still standing.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you two to your business," Zelda said, feeling awkward.

"Oh, and Link," she added, placing a hand on Young Link's shoulder, "your older self is...spying on you both."

Young Link sprang from his seat and out the door as Zelda walked away in search of an empty table.

"What is it with your penchant for noodles?" Zelda heard from the table behind her as she scanned the menu.

"I dunno," the person nearest Zelda said. "I just like noodles."

"People with little money usually eat them because they're cheap."

"Well since you're paying, I don't want it to be _too_ expensive," the boy with the noodles replied.

Zelda sighed. _Boys will be boys_.

"I can't use these," Marth said as he picked up the chopsticks. Roy grabbed a whole slew of noodles up with his and shoved them in his mouth.

"Oh come now, Marth," Roy said. "It's not _that_ hard."

Marth held one chopstick in each hand and eyed them.

"Can't I just stab my food with them?" the prince asked as his gaze went from the foreign eating utensils to his pepper steak and onions combo platter in front of him. Roy reached over and showed Marth the proper way to hold them.

"See?" Roy said. "It's not hard at all."

Marth looked skeptical. "I think I'll just use a fork."

Roy shoved more food into his mouth. "You're hopeless, Marthy."

The red head picked up some more noodles and then stared at them.

"...Remember when you said you always wanted to taste ramen?"

Marth looked up from his plate to the boy across from him. "What of it?"

Roy gestured to his food. "It's chicken flavoured." He said it in a very persuasive manner.

Marth remembered the last time Roy had chicken flavoured ramen and felt his cheeks get warm at the memory.

"...Yes," Marth replied slowly.

"Lean over a bit and taste it."

Marth did so and Roy shoved the noodles in Marth's mouth.

"So?" Roy asked as Marth slurped the noodles into his mouth.

"It's not bad," Marth answered, chewing on the food.

"Told you so," Roy said, sticking his tongue out.

"So Roy," Marth said, resting his arm on the table, "what are you doing for the rest of the day?"

Roy shrugged. "I haven't got anything planned. Why?"

Marth smiled as he rested his head in his palm and traced a circle into the tablecloth with the other.

"Well...maybe we could go ice skating."

Roy stared at him. "What're you trying to do, kill me?"

Marth stared back. "What, you've never ice skated before?"

Roy snorted. "Sure I have. Just...not in a few years."

Marth pushed his chair back, stood up, and pushed his chair in under the table.

"Let's go, then," Marth said, waiting for Roy to get up.

"Are you serious?" Roy asked, getting up then. Marth leaned against the table slightly.

"Yes."

"M_a_rth."

"R_o_y," Marth said, getting in Roy's face.

"You're not acting like yourself."

"Love does that, doesn't it?" Marth remarked, moving to Roy's eye level.

"...I guess."

"Let's go, then," Marth repeated, grabbing Roy's hand. Marth gently squeezed Roy's hand and then led him out the door without another word.

-x-

"You're both sneaky bastards."

Marth was tying the laces on his skates when he heard someone speaking. Looking up, he saw a blond haired boy with a hunter green winter jacket on, green mittens gracing his hands.

"How'd you find us here?" Marth asked, sitting up on the bench. Link smirked.

"Zelda was sitting in front of you two in the restaurant and overheard your conversation."

Marth frowned. "You know, I was hoping to spend some time with my boyfriend today. You know, _alone_."

Link raised an eyebrow. That was the first time he heard Marth refer to Roy as his "boyfriend".

"Speaking of," Link said, shaking the cold feeling he had off, "where _is_ Red, anyway?"

Marth stood up and pointed to the ice rink with his thumb. "Out there."

They both looked out at the rink and saw Roy making figure eights in the ice, cheeks red from the cold air.

"I didn't know Roy knew how to ice skate," Link remarked, leaning against the wall around the rink.

"He hasn't done it in a few years, but yes, he does know how to ice skate."

Link crossed his arms. "So, when did you make the transition?"

Marth quirked an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Link grinned smugly. "You called Roy your 'boyfriend'."

Marth blinked. "Ah, yes, I guess I did."

"Marth, your blush is showing."

Marth walked as fast as he could in skates past Link and onto the ice to join up with Roy.

"Marth, not so fast!"

Roy was desperately trying to keep his balance as Marth led him around the rink at what Roy thought was too fast of a pace. The red head clung to Marth's hand for dear life, afraid that if he let go he'd go flying.

"You should do a jump or something," Marth said as he came to a stop.

"If I did that I'd break my crazy neck," Roy replied, still clinging to Marth's hand.

Marth stole a kiss from Roy before letting go to skate around the rink himself.

"...You're crazy, Marth," Roy said before he skated right into the wall around the rink.

"Oww."

-x-

"I told you I'd catch you."

Roy had nearly had a heart attack when he almost landed head first on the ice from his sorry excuse for a jump.

"I don't care about_what_ you said. I still nearly died."

Marth and Roy were on their way home, just in time for dinner and some studying for exams.

"I thought Link was at the rink with you," Roy said, hands swinging at his sides.

"Briefly. He had auditions, remember?"

Roy stared blankly ahead as the streetlights were beginning to turn on.

"He was probably wondering why we weren't there."

Marth grabbed Roy's hand and laced their fingers together. "Doubt it."

The moon was full that night. Marth covered his mouth and yawned and Roy leaned against Marth as they walked.

"It's a nice night," Marth commented. "There's not a cloud in sight."

"Yeah," Roy replied. "It's nice, but cold."

"No wonder you're cold," Marth said. "You don't have your jacket zipped up all the way."

Roy sighed. "So what? We're almost home."

Marth watched as the cars drove by, enjoying the outdoors for once instead of being cooped up inside studying.

"So..."

"What?" Roy asked, watching his breath dissipate into the air.

"Did you have a nice day?"

Roy chuckled. "'Course I did. I got to spend the whole day with you."

Marth stopped and Roy halted next to him.

"Link said we made 'the transition'," Marth said, moving so he was in front of Roy. Roy raised an eyebrow.

"'The transition'?"

Marth said, in a whisper, "...I called you my boyfriend today."

Roy placed his hands on Marth's shoulders.

"...You sure you want this, Marth?"

"...Want what?"

"Are you sure you want us to be official," Roy clarified.

Marth wrapped his hands around Roy's wrists.

"I do."

Roy looked Marth right in the eye.

"Prove it."

Marth caressed Roy's cheek before leaning in and proving everything with a simple kiss that Roy swore lasted forever.


	9. Chapter 9

**-Nine-**

It was flurrying out when Marth woke up, and the heater in their room was broken. Master Hand, being rather cheap when it came to fixing things, said he would get around to it, but that meant it would be summer by the time it happened and then they wouldn't _need_ the heat. Besides, they had two plumbers amongst the Smashers Master Hand could hire to fix the heaters. They probably just needed to be bled of air again. He sighed and quickly grabbed his robe from the post of his bed, shrugged it on, wrapped it around his half-naked form, and reveled in the warmth the terry cloth fabric provided for his skin. He looked next to him and saw the bed was empty and the sheets cold. Roy had been up for a while.

Sighing once again, Marth got up from the bed and made his way over to the armoire with the mirror hanging on the wall over it. Taking a closer look at his reflection, he noticed he looked much better than he had been since that day in the auditorium (a day Marth would never forget because Link was spying on him and Roy and Link got his just desserts). He ran a hand through his semi-dark blue hair and turned his head to the side a bit to examine how it looked in the back.

_My hair needs to be cut_.

Making a note to get it trimmed over the weekend, he opened the wooden doors of his armoire and grabbed his black dress trousers hanging from a hanger. Closing the doors and draping the trousers over his arm, he opened the drawer on the side of the wooden wardrobe and searched for a not-so-wrinkled dress shirt. Closing the drawer, he dropped the clothing items onto his bed, dropped his robe to the floor, and quickly got dressed, shivering from the cold the whole time.

Marth swore he saw his breath when he exhaled.

-x-

Roy winced and flexed his arm, pain shooting from his shoulder to his wrist as he moved it in the wrong direction. The snow was falling harder by this time, and it was sticking to the ground. It was typical end-of-January weather, but Roy wasn't used to snow and Link was having too much fun focusing on trying to eat the falling snowflakes.

"Your shoulder still sore from yesterday?" Link asked with his tongue hanging from his mouth, trying to catch a snowflake on it. Roy looked at the pavement, hand on his shoulder lightly as he recapped his fall onto the ice at the ice rink. He and Link were walking together, the snow crunching under their feet as they walked from The Manse to the Academy, donned with warm jackets, gloves, and scarves.

"I mean, you know, since you fell on the ice."

Snow dripping from a tree branch arching overheard fell and landed on Link's head, the slushy substance sliding from his head to his neck and then down the back of his shirt. He shivered from the liquid ice and patted at his back, trying to get the fabric of his shirt to absorb it quickly.

"It's sort of okay," Roy answered at last, sliding his hand from his shoulder and down to his side.

"Do you think it was a good idea to leave without Marth?" Link asked, wiping the melting snow off his neck with his gloved hand. "He might think we were accosted or something."

Roy chuckled a bit and smiled slightly. "Doubtful. He knows we can take care of ourselves."

Link placed his hands behind his head and grinned cheesily. "Easy for you to say. Knowing me, I'd swing my sword and then trip and fall on my face."

They came to the corner and noticed the streets hadn't been plowed very well. The heat from car exhausts and wheels turned the once white snow into a dull grey slush that, when melted, would result in street drain clogs and big puddles. Anyone walking to anywhere along the Avenue knew it also flooded in certain spots, making walking hard to do. The resulting slush was on top of the drains, but it wasn't melting then, so there were no puddles for Link and Roy to trudge through. A car went through the red light, skidded, and nearly hit another car, and Roy winced at the tires squealing against the blacktop streets.

"People these days," Link muttered as their light turned green. "They don't know how to drive. Pitiful." Crossing the street and trudging through slush (Link nearly lost his footing twice), they continued walking to the Academy.

-x-

Marth, burnt toast in his mouth, papers and messenger bag in his arms, tripped out the door and into ankle-deep snow. Muttering something in Altean, he carefully made his way down the front steps, walked as quickly as the snow would allow him, and was attempting to shove everything into his already full to capacity bag. Succeeding at closing his bag, he slid the strap onto his opposite shoulder and put a hand on the burnt and almost falling toast.

"People these days," Marth said, munching angrily on his breakfast. "They have no consideration for anyone else. They couldn't have waited twenty minutes for me to wake up and leave with them? Tch."

And it was just Marth's luck, too, because the Avenue was starting to flood from the melting snow. Marth, like most people, did not like stepping through puddles. This one was quite large and snow mounds were on either side of it, so he couldn't go around it.

Marth, once again, cursed in Altean, this time stringing together a carefully woven tapestry of profanity about snow and puddles and winter. The light was green, and Marth stepped through the puddle, his eyes widening as water seeped into his shoes and soaked his socks. He walked on, though, ignoring the ice-cold feeling in his shoes, crossed the street's slush, and walked funny, trying to minimise his contact with the coldness.

_I should bring extra socks from now on_, the prince thought, shoving the rest of his breakfast in his mouth and nearly choked.

_This just isn't my day_.

-x-

Roy and Link were half-way down Devon Avenue by the time Marth was on the other side of The Avenue, the _crunch crunch crunch_ of the snow penetrating the otherwise-silent trip to school. Link knew today was a good day to wear his trademark green hat, though Roy joked that Link looked like one of Santa's elves. That earned the red head a good snowball to the face.

Link didn't know Roy was good at throwing snowballs.

So the two were silent, Roy was still scraping the remains of the snowball Link threw off his cheek, and Link was trying to remember whether or not he brought lunch money.

"I wonder where Marth is," Link pondered aloud, finger to his bottom lip in an exaggerated show of thought. Roy shrugged and winced at the sharp pain piercing through his shoulder.

"He's probably pissed that we didn't wait for him," Roy replied, shifting his bag strap so it was off of his bad shoulder more. He suddenly stopped and Link did too, albeit a foot in front of Roy.

"What's wrong?" Link asked, turning around. Roy looked behind him and then back at Link; he waved the blond on ahead and said, "You go on ahead, I'll stay and wait for Marth."

Link raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and turned back around to continue his walk without Roy. "If you insist."

Roy leaned against a nearby leaf-less tree to wait for his boyfriend. He thought it wasn't fair for Marth to walk to school by himself, especially when there was snow on the ground. He lifted his coat sleeve to look at his watch. It was seven fifty nine.

-x-

Marth's face was red and his breathing came out in short gasps as he walked faster, trying to make sure he wasn't late for school.

"They're probably in the nice warm school laughing at me," Marth muttered, brows furrowed as he rounded the corner.

"Hey, there's someone by that tree up ahead."

Marth, quickening his pace, neared the tree and saw a boy with snow specked red hair and nearly translucent skin. Marth inhaled and exhaled quickly, catching his breath as he came to a stop in front of the boy.

"Roy?" Marth said in between gasps, moving his bag strap up further on his shoulder so it wouldn't fall off. "What are you doing here?"

Roy looked up at Marth from underneath his bangs and smiled.

"Waiting for you."

Marth crossed his arms. "As well you should be. What kind of boyfriend leaves their lover to walk to school without them?"

Roy pushed away from the tree with his leg and placed his hands on Marth's.

"Hey, at least I waited for you." Roy smirked and pulled on Marth's arm. "Now come on, you don't want to be late, do you?"

Marth freed his hand from Roy's, wrapped his arm around Roy's shoulder (being careful of where he landed on it), and brought him closer as they continued their walk to the Academy.

"...So did you tell your father about 'us'?" Marth asked, breaking the silence as they came to the final corner before the school.

"Well," Roy began, "...not really. I was thinking after exams, maybe. I don't want to give him a heart attack or anything."

Marth looked straight ahead as they crossed the street. "I see." He sounded disappointed.

"I will tell him, though, Marth," Roy said, leaning his head against Marth's shoulder as they walked past the King Street entrance to the school.

"...Your father's not the kind of person to disown you because of your orientation, is he?" Marth questioned, worried about the answer.

"I don't think so," Roy answered. "He might be a bit disappointed because I think he was looking forward to having grandchildren, but he'd be happy for us."

Marth looked at the snow covered ground. "...Right."

Quickly, Roy added, "We can always adopt, you know. I'm not really worried about children right now and... Wait, wouldn't you be committing bigamy since you're married? Oh no, we're gonna be in trouble with your wife and--"

Marth took Roy by the shoulders, gently, and pushed him against the metal grated gate surrounding the front of the school. Placing a gloved finger to Roy's lips, Marth said, "Shush and calm down. We won't get in trouble with anyone--Altea has no laws concerning multiple lovers and such."

Roy gently bit down on Marth's finger and smirked.

"But I don't want to be your concubine."

Marth gave Roy a look.

"You're not my concubine. You're my _lover_, my boyfriend. ...Sheeda's more like my best friend, really. I don't... I don't have any romantic inclination towards her."

The amount of students outside was thinning out, and Roy looked at his watch again.

"We can talk about this later," Roy said, ducking out of Marth's embrace. "We'll be late for the exams if we don't hurry."

Marth grabbed Roy by the wrist before he could get away and pulled him close.

"I'm not taking them, remember? I'll meet you after school by our locker."

Roy playfully squirmed in Marth's grasp and looked up at Marth's face.

"Where will you be for the next four hours?" Roy noticed how different Marth looked as Roy viewed him upside down. He turned around in Marth's grasp and Roy rested his hands lightly on Marth's chest.

"I have some things I have to do around the school," Marth answered. "Now go; you don't want to be late for exams, huh?" Marth smirked and Roy smiled.

"I'll see you, then," Roy said, backing out of Marth's arms.

"One last thing," Marth said, still clutching Roy's hand.

"What?" Roy asked. Marth brushed his lips against Roy's and pulled away before Roy could reciprocate.

"Good luck," Marth said. He let go of Roy's hand and walked through the snow to the main entrance of the building.

Roy stood there and watched Marth retreat into the hopefully warm building before continuing his walk to his usual entrance.

-x-

"Oh Din, we have _exams_ today!" the blond haired youth exclaimed as he leaned against the wall near the lockers. "And me being a doofus, I lost my exam schedule."

Roy patted Link on the back.

"I still have mine."

Link looked into his bag and decided it would be best to not look for it.

"Where's Marth?" Link asked, looking around the corner of the hallway for the bluenette. Roy unshackled the lock and opened the blue-painted locker, the door of it rattling lightly as it bounced off the adjacent locker.

"He's exempt from exams," Roy answered, figuring out which textbooks needed to be returned to the teachers.

"Did we have to return our history books?" Link asked, crossing his arms as he waited for his friend.

"I don't think so," Roy replied as he threw his Algebra Two text on the floor. It landed with a slapping sound that resounded throughout the hallway. After he did that, he jammed his bookbag into his locker and quickly shut the locker door, holding the door closed with his side as he shackled the locker closed. The door bulged under the weight, but the door was held shut by the lock.

"So what exams do we have today?" Link asked as he pushed away from the wall. After bending down to pick up his maths textbook and standing back up with it under his arm, Roy wordlessly pulled his schedule out from a pocket in his book bag, unfolded it, and held it out in front of him.

"Periods one and two," Roy answered. "So Japanese for us, Algebra One for you, and Algebra Two for me."

Link crossed his arms as they began to walk to their first period class.

"Mewtwo-sensei said that the exam was going to be impossibly hard," Link remarked, pulling out his Japanese exam study guide.

"Only if you didn't study," Roy replied, folding his schedule up again and putting it in his back trouser pocket. "I did last night, so it should be easy."

Link unfolded his arms and placed them in his pockets instead, the ends of his blazer bunching up against his wrists.

"Is_that_ what you and Marth were doing in the deserted back section of the library?" Link mused, smirking in an amused sort of way as he said it. Roy flushed slightly and clutched his Algebra Two text in his arms.

"What else would Marth and I be doing in the library?" Roy asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Oh, I dunno," Link said, looking ahead of them as they turned the corner of the hallway. "Maybe Marth was being all seductive and had you pinned against the bookshelf and--"

As they passed by the English office, an arm extended in front of them, Japanese folder in its hand. Soon after, a head poked out from behind the doorway, and a bespectacled bluenette appeared. Link was almost hit with the folder.

"Marth, I almost didn't recognise you with your glasses on," Link said, ducking under the folder and turning around to face Marth. The prince stepped out of the office and held the folder out to Roy.

"You might want this," Marth said as Roy took the folder. "Remember you said you lost it? Well, I found it. It was, for some odd reason, under my bed."

Link stifled a laugh and Roy blushed.

"Thanks," Roy said awkwardly, placing the blue folder under his maths book. Marth held up a hand and smiled.

"Have fun with your exams," Marth said before stepping back into the office to continue what he was doing previous.

"Oh yeah, we'll have fun," Link muttered as they walked on to their Japanese classroom. "Lucky Marth, missing exams..."

Roy did nothing except shake his head and sigh dismissively before doing a double take.

Roy didn't know Marth wore glasses. The frames were of the sort that were hard to notice, being practically transparent, but he figured he would've noticed them by now. Shrugging and deciding he would ask Marth later, Roy held his hand out to open the door and nearly forgot Link was behind him.

Marth wearing glasses was kind of a turn on, or Roy thought so, anyway.

-x-

The exam had just started, and already Link was tired of it. The silence irked him, and the fact that they had to sit there for _two whole hours_ irked him even more. Link wasn't sure he could stand it. He glanced over to Roy, who was busy filling in answer after answer on his Scan-tron answer sheet, and then quickly looked away so Mewtwo--who was reading the newspaper--would accuse Link of cheating. He looked up at the clock again. Ten minutes had passed by, the same amount of time had past since the last time he looked up at the clock.

Link knew he was going to fail the exam, mostly because his Japanese reading skills sucked eggs.

Roy turned the page of his question booklet to find he was on the last page.

_This was too easy_.

Reading the questions carefully, he chose the answers he thought (and knew) were right, checked to make sure he didn't miss anything, and placed everything into a neat pile before getting out of his chair and stood before Mewtwo's desk.

"Done already?" Mewtwo asked, surprised. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

Roy bit his bottom lip and held the exam and all its attachments upside down as was the proper Japanese way. Mewtwo sighed and telepathically took it from the red head as he bowed, and Mewtwo placed it on an empty space on the rather messy desk. Mewtwo wasn't known for his organisational skills.

Roy turned and returned to his seat, rummaging in his book bag for something to occupy his time with. While looking for a book he had read many times before to the point where pages were falling out, Roy's phone lit up and said he had one new message. Intrigued by the message, he picked up his phone and flipped it open, book in his other hand. Placing the black hardcover on the desk, he flipped through his messages until he came to the unread one and pressed a button on the keypad.

It was Marth, of course.

'_How was the exam? ...Don't tell me Link didn't fill anything in again._'

Roy smirked and then looked up to make sure no one was paying attention. Roy was already breaking a school policy by having a cell phone--even though everyone brought them to school anyway--and he was breaking another one by having it out in plain view.

'_I thought it was easy. Link's having a hard time; I don't think he's filled anything in yet, and he keeps staring at the clock.'_

Roy sent the message and closed the cover of his phone, threw it into his bag, and opened his book to the bookmarked page. Marth must have been bored to text him, since Marth rarely even used his phone to begin with. Roy sighed and began reading, his bookmark in between his first two fingers and his hand in his hair. Roy, like Marth, had his strange quirks when it came to reading books.

There was an hour left when Link handed in his exam, shame written all over his face. He didn't know most of the answers and just filled in "A" for the rest; he had a fifty percent chance of getting some of them right. Mewtwo didn't even look at Link or the exam, just kept reading his newspaper. Mewtwo knew Link would fail, anyway, so he had come to expect it. It would take a miracle or five for Link to get a D on it, even. Link shuffled dejectedly back to his seat, took out his cell phone when he sat down, and began playing Tetris on his phone, cursing inwardly when his finger would slip and the piece would go in the wrong place.

Gary stared blankly at the exam, expecting the answers to magically appear on his answer sheet if he looked at it hard enough. Unfortunately for him, nothing in life worked that way, so he continued to stare and stare and stare until his eyes started to strain and become bloodshot. Stephen, however, found an easy way to get the answers from Nicholas, who was out of reach but, at the same time, next to him. It involved dropping various objects ranging from pencils to dollar bills to erasers to his answer sheet and--in a move of desperation for number forty two's answer--falling out of his chair in into Nicholas's lap. The disheveled and flustered brunette looked down at Stephen's cheesily grinning face and narrowed his eyes.

Mewtwo gazed over the newspaper for a brief second to see what that big crash was, saw the top of Stephen's head in Nicholas's lap, and then went back to his paper hastily. He didn't need to know, didn't want to know what was going on between the two males.

_I swear this school makes everyone gay,_ Mewtwo thought as he turned to the Business section of the _Nintendo Land Times_.

Link turned his cell phone off and angrily threw it into his bag. Stupid Tetris! Link had come to the conclusion that the blindness-inducing video game was conspiring against him by purposely slipping to the left or right of where Link actually wanted them to go. He crossed his arms and stared at the black board the whole time, eyes blinking in an attempt to regain some part of his sight back. Marth warned him about Tetris, but Link didn't listen.

Stephen, now back in his own seat, had his pink Nintendo DS on his desk. He was petting his Dalmation Nintendog named Skipper and was about to take him for a walk when Gary came up behind him and groped him. Disturbed, Stephen pushed Gary away and he ended up landing in Roy's lap. Roy, thinking Gary was trying to molest him, stood up, book still in hand, and watched as the bleeding Gary hit the floor. Roy's heart was beating at twice the normal rate, his breathing irregular, and his eyes fixed on the platinum blond's unconscious body.

Mewtwo was, as usual, ignoring everyone else. He didn't give a crap anymore.

The bell rang thirty minutes later, with an announcement stating for "all students to please report to their first period class for attendance."

_Stupid mortal_, Mewtwo thought, _don't they realise the students are already _in_ first period?_

Mewtwo stood from his desk, floated sluggishly over to his podium, grabbed the attendance sheet with his psychic powers, and proceeded to do roll call.

"Stephen?"

"Hai," Stephen answered, teaching Skipper some tricks.

"Kweenetra?"

"Hai," the curly haired girl replied, her eyes not glancing up from _Harry Pothead and the Chamber of Crack_.

"Marth's exempt," Mewtwo muttered, filling the "exempt" option in. "...Link?"

Link, who was half-blind still, raised his hand and ended up whacking it hard against the wall. "Ow!"

Mewtwo, who once experienced Tetris Blindness, understood what Link was going through and marked him in.

"Roy?"

"Hai," Roy said, not looking up from his novel about gay vampires. Mewtwo marked him in as well.

"Nicholas?"

Nicholas raised his hand, and Mewtwo caught it.

"And last and least, Gary."

Gary was still on the floor and still unconscious, and Roy had sat down in Marth's seat.

No one thought to drag Gary to the nurse when the bell rang. In fact, most forgot he was there.

-x-

Marth removed the glasses perched on his nose and rubbed his eyes, staring at the computer screen afterwards. Replacing his glasses, he turned back to the keyboard and typed more of the paperwork the English Department Head wanted in the database. And since Marth, being the sweetheart he was, volunteered for the job, he was stuck with it until school let out for the day.

He looked at the computer clock. 10:48 AM. And then Marth remembered the clock was three minutes fast. Trying very hard to not grab the ballpoint pen lying on the top of the keyboard and commit Seppuku with it, he instead focused on the sheet of paper to his left and tried very hard to not think. Of course, when one tries to not think, they end up doing the complete opposite. In Marth's case, he ended up getting distracted and somehow ended up thinking about Roy and the text he received from him.

_What the hell does 'chu' mean, anyway?_ Marth thought as he typed away. _I mean, I know Pikachu says 'chu', but...what does it mean?_ The fact that Marth didn't know what 'chu' meant irked him something awful.

His wrists were beginning to tingle and ache, so he sat back in his chair and tried to ignore the half-finished NintenWord document in favour of resting.

_I mean, I'd _ask_ him what 'chu' meant, but then he'd think I was a moron or something_, Marth reasoned inside his head.

Leaning back in his chair so it practically reclined, he looked out the window at the Chinese place across from the school. His stomach growled and Marth groaned.

_This isn't my day_, Marth thought. _What did I do to deserve such a crappy day?_

-x-

The bell rang to signal the end of the second period exam. Roy gathered up his belongings--his book on gay vampires, his writing notebook, his doodling pad, and his cellphone--and shoveled them into his bag, almost dropping some things onto the floor. By the time he got things ready and packed up, there was no one in the classroom, and Ms. Toadstool had her very pink and very puffy coat on, prepared for the weather awaiting her outside.

Roy ducked out of the room and around the halls until he came to the entrance of the inside "less crowded" stairwell. As he slowly walked up the stairs that went around and around and listened to his footsteps echo against the walls, he looked at the various things posted on the faux-brick. He stopped at the entrance to the third floor, took a right, and went through another short staircase before he came to the entrance of the "tunnel".

_I wonder where Link is..._

Roy was going to wait for the blond, but figured Marth was already by their locker and impatiently waiting. Sighing, Roy went through the hallway and took an immediate left.

Marth wasn't there.

_Where the hell is he?_

Roy slid the strap of his bag off his shoulder, blinking when it fell to the floor with a thud, and dropped flat on his ass to the floor to wait for Marth.

-x-

"Why hello there."

Marth looked up from the last page he needed to type to Ms. Gilbert, the teacher who had a blatantly obvious crush on him. She was leaning against the doorway with a grin of satisfaction gracing her features; Marth quickly looked back to his work. He needed to get the typing done so he could meet Roy by his locker and get the heck out of the building.

"Ms. Gilbert," Marth said as politely as he could.

Ms. Gilbert sauntered over to Marth's chair and wrapped an arm around him, making sure to show off her cleavage as she leaned over him.

"What're you doing as that hag's lackey, huh?" she asked, her hand stroking Marth's cheek. "And what do you use to have such soft skin?"

Marth moved his head away from her hand, finished his last sentence, clicked "Save" on the toolbar, and got up as abruptly as possible. Ms. Gilbert was now leaning against the chair for support and Marth got his things together. Wanting to know why Marth was acting so odd, she blocked his way out of the door.

"Ms. Gilbert...?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

"You like playing hard to get, don't you?" she asked, her voice husky. Marth, with some difficulty due to him being at least six inches taller than her, ducked out from her arms and sidestepped another attempt at her touching him.

"Oh Marthy..."

Just as Ms. Gilbert latched onto him and was about to kiss him passionately (or so she hoped), a Yookosoo volume 2 text book got in the way; she ended up kissing that instead.

"You ready to go yet?" Marth's rescuer asked, jingling his keys. Marth sighed in relief and wrapped an arm around the red head.

"I was ready to leave since I got here," Marth replied, planting a kiss on Roy's forehead that Marth was sure Ms. Gilbert saw as she placed her glasses back onto her face.

-x-

"So what was _that_ all about?" Roy asked, arms folded as Marth got everything in the appropriate order inside the blue-painted locker. Marth shrugged.

"Apparently you're not the only one who likes me."

Roy closed the door when Marth was finished. Marth turned to leave when Roy leaned against the lockers and pouted.

"What's wrong?" Marth asked, turning around when he realised Roy wasn't behind him. He saw Roy's pout. "Roy..."

"You didn't reply back to my text message asking where you were so I got worried and went to the English office and then I saw Ms. Gilbert trying to seduce you and _what am I supposed to think_? And..."

Marth watched as Roy slammed a fist against the locker, rattling the locked door, and began shouting at him in Pheraean.

"Roy... Roy, come on, don't be like this..." Marth reached out for Roy, but the red head just pushed him away and crossed his arms again, his back against their locker.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Marth said, holding his hands out at his sides. "What did you want me to do?!"

"I wanted you to push her away and get out of there!" Roy shouted back. "Instead you were just standing there like a jackass!"

"She grappled me! What could I do? I don't know what your father taught you, but mine said to never commit an act of violence against a lady!"

Roy was up in Marth's face in a split second.

"Don't you _dare_ insult my father!" Roy yelled, angry tears stinging at his eyes. "You've never even met him, how can you judge him?!"

"Because you're suggesting I should just push a woman out of my way," Marth said coldly, folding his arms and looking the other way.

"I am not!" Roy said, one hand on the locker and another on Marth's shirt collar. "I'm suggesting that you should've gotten out of the situation. You were going to let her kiss you and you would've probably _enjoyed_ it."

Before Marth could utter another word, Roy picked up his bag, forgetting all about his jacket, and pushed past Marth to get to the third floor school entrance.

"Roy!" Marth yelled after his boyfriend's retreating back. "Roy, come back here!"

Roy completely ignored him as he walked into the freezing cold afternoon air.

Marth took a deep breath and slowly let it out before he realised what had just happened. He heard footsteps from behind him and turned on his heel to come face-to-face with Link.

"Marth?" Link asked, surprised to see the prince with such a red face. "What's wrong?"

Marth said nothing, he just ran a hand through his hair, leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down it.

"...Do you wanna talk about it?" Link asked, surmising that something bad had happened between Marth and Roy. The blond sat down next to Marth.

"It's between Roy and myself," Marth said simply. "We'll have to resolve it ourselves."

Link nodded. "Let me guess: it was over something stupid, wasn't it?"

Marth sighed slowly.

"Roy's just overreacting."

Link smiled somewhat. "He's your boyfriend. He's going to be jealous, you know. He's going to overreact. The fact that he _is_ jealous shows he loves you and doesn't want to lose you to someone else."

Marth leaned his head against the cold faux-brick wall behind him.

"I know he is. But we still fought about it."

"It's healthy."

"What is?" Marth asked, figuring Roy was probably half-way home by now.

"Arguing. Every relationship, good or bad, needs it. You can't agree on everything."

With that last bit of advice, Link stood up and offered Marth his hand, which Marth took.

"Let's go home. Maybe after Roy's calmed down a bit, you and he can work this disagreement out civily."

As Marth walked out the Academy's front doors, he wished so hard that the argument wouldn't be the end of "them".

-x-

Roy was in their room, listening to music to get his mind off of the fight he and Marth had earlier. Thinking of the fight only made Roy angrier, however, and so he paused the music, got up, and threw himself on his bed, for lack of anything else he could do.

It didn't help that Roy was exhausted and bored and, as Marth put it before, depressed. Roy figured it was because he wasn't sleeping enough or eating enough, that he was tired of a routine, and the boredom was making him sad and angry...

His head nuzzled his pillow, and he was almost asleep when he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Roy?"

_Oh_, Roy thought, turning onto his stomach. _It's him_.

Marth knocked once again before he realised that it was _their_ room and opened the door.

"...Roy."

"Go away," Roy said, mouth muffled by his pillow. "I don't want to talk to you."

Marth gently closed the door behind him and cautiously approached the foot of Roy's bed.

"I _said_ go aw--"

"I heard you the first time," Marth said, sitting by Roy's legs and eyeing them. He didn't know if Roy was mad enough to actually kick him, but it never hurt to be prepared. "But I'm not going away. We need to fix this."

"There's nothing to fix," Roy replied, turning his face away from the pillow so he could be heard clearly. "Everything's fine."

"Everything is _not_ fine," Marth insisted, moving further up the bed until he was right next to Roy. "We need to sort this problem out. If we talk..."

Marth touched Roy's arm and motioned for him to turn over.

"I want to make things right," Marth continued. "I know I should have pushed her away and ran out of the office, but to be honest...I wasn't thinking. I wasn't expecting it, she caught me by surprise."

Roy said nothing.

"I know you think I'm just making excuses," Marth said, "but I'm really not. I'm telling you what happened. There are things I should have done, but I didn't. I was wrong. ...There's nothing left for me to say, Roy. What more do you want from me?"

Roy turned, slowly, onto his back but still did not look at Marth.

"If you want someone older..."

Marth placed a finger over Roy's mouth.

"No," Marth said simply. "I am perfectly happy with the man I have now."

Marth leaned over Roy, his face nearing Roy's.

"I'm sorry I was stupid."

"We're both sorry," Roy whispered against Marth's lips as he wrapped his arms around Marth's neck. "Love makes us crazy."

Roy couldn't stay mad at Marth. Not when Marth spoke like _that_ or kissed him like _this_ or stroked his cheek softly like Marth usually did.

Roy couldn't stay mad_period_. It just wasn't in his nature.

"Cuddle?" Marth asked, already placing on hand on Roy's and his other arm around Roy's shoulder.

Roy smiled.

"Why not." Roy moved closer and laced his fingers with Marth's.

"That fight was stupid," Roy added, resting his head against Marth's shoulder.

"Couples fight about stupid things," Marth replied. "And it wasn't stupid. You had every right to be concerned."

Roy smiled wider and whispered something only Marth would understand.

"I love you, too," Marth replied back in Altean, and pulled Roy even closer.


	10. Chapter 10

**-Ten-**

The halls were empty, as they usually were at six in the morning, due to everyone (save for Peach, who was in the kitchen downstairs) sleeping still. An alarm went off in a room near the end of the rather bland looking hallway, a groan emitting from the inhabitant of the bed.

_Is it that time already?_

Marth's arm reached out from under the nice and fuzzily warm sheets to hit the "Snooze" button on the clock by his bed. He blinked several times in an attempt to resist going back to sleep and sat up, letting the light blue sheets slide down from his shoulders, hands rubbing his eyes.

_It's only __**Tuesday**_

Marth pulled the rest of the sheets off of him and stretched, falling over and onto the other side of his bed.

"...Don't want to get up..." came a mutter from the other side of the room. Marth sat up then, got up from the bed, and walked the very short distance from his bed to Roy's, picking up his school pants on the way.

"Roy," Marth said, touching the red head's arm. "_Roy_."

The aforementioned grabbed a hold of Marth's arm, which caused Marth to lose his balance and fall on top of Roy.

_Not this again_.

Marth placed his arms on either side of Roy's head, just above his shoulders, and supported himself, not wanting to smush Roy.

"Hello there, Marthy," Roy said, grinning impishly. Marth shyly grinned and then blushed, realising that the position they were in didn't look good.

"Nice to see you're awake," Marth said, moving so he was at Roy's eye level. "It's six o'clock on part two of exams."

Roy rolled his eyes and inched his face closer to Marth's. "Don't remind me."

Marth inched closer as well. "Oh, it's not so bad."

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to take them."

Roy cupped Marth's cheek and closed his eyes half way, leaning in just a bit more.

"I get a boring job as a typist in the English department. I'd rather take the exams," Marth said, moving away from his boyfriend. Roy frowned and sat up on his elbows, watching Marth put on his pants.

"...Why are you looking at me funny?" Marth asked, freezing at Roy's look.

"Tease," said Roy simply, sitting up more. "You did that on purpose."

Marth cocked an eyebrow. "Did _what_ on purpose?" He buckled his belt and crossed the room to get a clean shirt.

Roy swung his legs over the side of his bed, one hand clutching the sheets. "You pulled away just when I was gonna kiss you."

Marth turned away from the mirror, fingers still pushing buttons through their respective holes.

"I knew that if I kissed you while you were still on the bed, we'd end up groping at each other like sex-deprived teenagers and then _Link_ of all people would barge in and _do you know how many times he's done that_?"

Roy stood and strode over to Marth, wrapping his arms around Marth's neck when he arrived.

"Well I'm not on a bed anymore," Roy whispered, rubbing the tip of his nose against Marth's cheek, his bottom lip barely touching Marth's face.

"You're too close to_mine_," Marth said, ducking out from Roy's embrace so he could get his tie. Roy sighed and watched Marth place the silken fabric around his neck.

"You make sex sound like a bad thing," Roy said, grabbing his pants off his computer chair.

"I am not," Marth replied, crossing the fabric around his fingers to make a loop. "It's actually quite enjoyable. But we don't have any of the necessary things to _make_ it that way, and doing it spur-of-the-moment isn't very...exciting."

Roy shrugged his shirt on and went back over to Marth, pulling his face close with his tie.

"You sound like you know what you're talking about on this subject," Roy said, looking straight into Marth's eyes.

"I've had it before," Marth replied in a "duh" tone.

"With a guy?"

Marth sighed. "No. Not with a man." Marth watched Roy grin widely.

"Hmm..."

"If you don't start moving, we're going to be late for school, and you'll be late for exams."

Roy ran his fingers through Marth's unbrushed hair.

"I'd rather have sex with you than take exams."

Marth blushed and Roy smirked, leaning closer to Marth.

"I'll make a deal with you," Marth said, putting his finger in Roy's face. "If you ace all of your exams--and I mean _all_ of your exams, you can't fail any or get a B or something--I'll...I'll have sex with you."

Roy grinned once again. "You sound like a prostitute now."

Marth scowled. "Take the deal or leave it. And I do not sound like a prostitute. I'm your boyfriend, and I can have sex with you if I want to."

Roy pressed a finger to his lips in an exaggerated show of thought, eyes glancing away from the prince.

"I'm taking the offer, then. But we need to seal this deal somehow."

Marth brushed his lips against Roy's and quickly pulled away, reaching for his blazer on the hook by the dresser.

"...I want something better than _that_," Roy said, grabbing Marth's hand. "I _know_ you can kiss better than that."

Marth sighed and pressed Roy against the wall near the bathroom. Roy captured Marth's lips and ran his fingers through Marth's hair before rubbing his jawline with a finger. Roy pulled at Marth's arm when Roy felt Marth give into his silent request and moaned slightly before they pulled away.

"Happy now?" Marth asked as he watched Roy's cheeks return to their normal colouring. Roy nodded.

"...You'll have to kiss me like that when I ace my exams."

Marth opened the door to their bedroom. "We'll see."

-x-

Marth sat in the kitchen, newspaper open in front of him, tea to his right, and toast to his left. Roy sleepily leaned against Marth's arm, one arm looped around it.

"Where's Link?" Marth asked as he chewed away at his toast. "Usually he's down here by now."

Peach placed a cup of tea in front of Roy and leaned against his chair for a brief moment.

"He left for the Academy already. He said he had a morning detention he couldn't miss."

Marth folded the paper after deciding there was nothing in it and left it by Mewtwo's seat. He finished off his toast and tea before standing (and subsequently knocked Roy off of him).

"We should be heading out," Marth said, looking at his watch.

"I don't want to be there longer than I have to be," Roy said, standing up as well, but not before gulping down his tea. He pushed in his chair and picked up his books, most of them for entertainment purposes.

"Have a good day," Peach said as she saw them to the door. "It's not that cold out, so a sweater should suffice. I'll have lunch waiting for you when you come home."

Marth smiled and Roy waved as they opened the door, grabbing their jackets on the way out.

"I wonder what Link did _this_ time," Roy mused, zippering his sweatjacket up. "Must've been pretty bad if he had to go in in the morning."

Marth shrugged. "This is Link we're talking about. Who knows what he did."

Roy looked at the sky as they walked, enjoying how blue it was and how the sunlight reflected off the leaves. "It's nice out today."

Marth grinned. "It's about time the sun was out. Dreary weather makes me all gloomy."

Roy grabbed Marth's hand. "Until I come into the picture, then you're all happy."

The prince glanced at Roy from the corner of his eye. "You look expectant of something."

Roy shrugged. "I want all A's on my exams, so I'm kind of...nervous, is all."

Marth sighed, studying the just-beginning-to-bud trees. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything."

"But then I get a nice reward for doing well on my exams, so it's something to look forward to."

They stopped at the corner, Roy's fingers laced with Marth's.

"And no flirting with random teachers."

Marth's eyes widened. "I wasn't flirting! _She_ was the one flirting!"

"In any case," Roy said, ignoring him, "tone your sexiness down. It gets distracting at times."

Marth smirked and teasingly said, "Is that why you get random boners in the middle of class?"

Roy's face turned crimson, his eyes narrowing as they walked across the street.

"That happened once!"

"Twice," Marth said, correcting him.

"The last time you touched my leg, so it doesn't count!"

"Roy, we sit next to each other in Japanese, something's bound to touch!" Marth reasoned, gesturing with his other hand.

"...Well it was your_hand_," Roy said, insisting the subject continue. They turned at the next corner, the sun not yet above the houses lining the street.

"Okay, fine, I purposely touched your _knee_ so you could get all hot and bothered. Whatever makes you sleep at night."

Roy wrapped his arm around Marth's waist.

"It was _above_ my knee."

Marth sighed. "As long as it wasn't your thigh."

Roy laughed. "I'd pay you money to touch my thigh."

Marth blushed and Roy laughed some more.

"You've dreamed of me touching more than just your thigh," Marth said, teasing. Roy ducked under Marth's arm and placed it on his shoulder.

"Without divulging too much, yes, I have."

Marth ruffled Roy's hair. "Just don't tell me what."

Roy's hand trailed from Marth's waist and touched an area that made Marth jump slightly.

"Roy..."

"You never said I couldn't."

"We're in _public_."

"...I've been wanting to squeeze your ass for a while now," Roy said, grinning like an imp. Marth sighed, grabbed Roy's hand and placed it back on his hip.

"That's probably not all you want to touch," Marth said. "Save it all for the end of exams."

Roy groaned in mock-disappointment and Marth stuck his tongue out.

-x-

"Whose idea was it to have an exam for _Gym_?" Link asked, walking down the back stairs to go to room 16N, Roy next to him.

"Whosever it was needs to be shot," Roy said. "I could've slept later if we didn't have to have one."

Link smirked. "Could've slept in later with _Marth_."

Roy scowled. "We don't sleep together."

"You liar," Link said, opening the door for the both of them. "I've seen you and him in the same bed."

"We weren't sleeping together _last night_," Roy said, amending his last statement.

"How come?" Link asked, going through the open doors of the classroom.

"Because."

"What, did Marth not spread his legs for you last night?" Link always prided himself in being blunt.

Roy blushed and shoved Link. "Marth doesn't spread _anything_ for me, except maybe the peanut butter on my sandwiches."

Link smirked. "Oh, it's one of _those_ things. _You_ spread your legs for _him_, don't you, Peanut Butter Man?"

Roy blushed harder and sat in the first available row, Link in the seat next to him.

"No one spreads their legs for _anyone_."

Link smirked more. "I bet if he were a teacher here, you'd find an excuse to have him stay after school and "tutor" you, and then you'd bend him over the desk and pull his pants down and..."

While Link was describing the scenario, Roy was getting mental images and his face turned the colour of his hair.

"Roy, you've got a...err..._you know_," Link said, whispering the last part. Roy's eyes widened as he looked down.

"Why are you even_looking_ there?"

"It's hard _not_ to when you have a _you know_."

"What are you, five?" Roy asked. "Can you not say the word or something?"

Link looked thoughtful. "You know, some couples role play to spice up their sex lives. Maybe you and Marth..."

Roy was very happy when Ms. Aran passed out the exams, because then Link was forced to shut up.

-x-

"Alright, let me just quickly run these through the Scan-Tron machine and I'll get your scores back to you," Ms. Aran said, grabbing the pile of answer sheets and running over to the next room. Everyone crowded around her desk, nervous about whether they failed at life or they were geniuses. (_How hard is it to answer questions about __**volleyball**_ Roy thought, standing by the door and peering out of it occasionally.)

Ms. Aran came back, Scan-Tron's in hand.

"Since time's running short, I'll just recite who failed and who passed, and from the looks of it, most of you failed." She flipped through the papers and pulled out the ones that passed.

"...Only _ten_ people passed?" Stephen asked, practically lying on the desk. "Are you all _stupid_?"

Ms. Aran gave Stephen a stern look. "I wouldn't talk, Mr. I-Failed-By-One-Point."

Stephen paled and ran out of the room; Ms. Aran didn't even bother to run after him and pulled out more passing grades.

"Mr. Pherae, you got the highest score: ninety percent."

"That's an...A, right?"

"Yes, it is."

Link glanced at his grade and deadpanned. "You're gonna round that sixty four point five, right?"

Ms. Aran smirked. "Depends on my mood when I'm recording the grades in my book."

The bell rang and everyone ran out like lightning, leaving Roy and Link standing in front of Ms. Aran's desk.

"So I got one 'A' that I know of," Roy muttered as he turned back to his desk to retrieve his books. "I hope I got 'A's on my math and Japanese exams..."

Link waited for Roy by the other examination room, his face deep in thought.

"What's up?" Roy asked, seeing Link's expression.

"How the heck'd I get a sixty four point five?" Link asked, gesturing with his hands. "I even _studied_ for it!"

Roy shrugged. "Who was your _parne_?"

Link raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Roy realised what he said and said, "Err, who was your study partner?"

Link said, quite simply, "Marth was. And what the heck is a _parne_?"

Roy sighed. "It's Pheraean for 'tutor'."

They rounded the corner and Roy took out his exam schedule.

"We...we have Chorus next."

They both stopped short of the doors leading up to the first floor and the plaza.

"Didn't Zel say we didn't _have_ an exam for this class?" Roy asked, reading over the schedule again to make sure it was correct. Link nodded.

"So now what?" Link asked, crossing his arms. "Where do we go?"

Roy gave Link a look.

"_Uchi e iku_," the red head answered, practising his Japanese. After seeing Link's blank look, he said, "We go _home_."

Link pushed open the door and stomped up the stairs, Roy not far behind.

"What a waste!" Link shouted, not caring that his voice was amplified significantly. "I got up early for a stinkin' detention _and_ some stupid exam about volleyball and track!"

Link was about to exit into the plaza when Roy said, "Don't you have to go to your locker?"

Link stopped, turned around, and walked through to the first floor, going through another set of doors at the end of the hall, up another flight of stairs, through another set of doors, and then finally to his locker.

"Could you walk any_faster_?" Roy huffed, leaning against the red painted lockers. Link shrugged, undoing the lock.

"I s'pose I could dump my crap in here," Link said, hanging his bag by the strap on one of the many hooks inside his locker. "But what about Marth? He's got that boring assed job."

Roy shrugged once again. "...Would it be considered kidnapping if we ran in there, dragged Marth out of the chair, down the hall, and then out the door?"

Link slammed the door shut. "Probably, but that does sound like a neat idea."

They went through the door near the gymnasium, which led to the second and third floors of the new building.

-x-

"If this didn't pay anything good," Marth muttered to himself as he typed up more paperwork, "I would have been out of here faster than most people can blink."

There was the sound of a door opening, but Marth ignored it, figuring it was one of the many teachers that frequented the English Department Office.

"'Ey, Marthy, let's bust this popsicle stand and run with the loot!"

Marth stopped typing and stared blankly at the monitor, eyeglasses slipping an inch down his nose.

"I'm not even going to _pretend_ I know what you just said to me, Link."

Roy wrapped his arms around Marth's neck from behind him and looked over Marth's shoulder.

"No wonder you'd rather take the exams," the red head mused. "This looks about as exciting as watching the kids outside smack each other with tree branches."

"Actually, that sounds pretty fun to watch!" Link piped in, sipping from his water bottle. "And can you believe we had to wake up early for some stupid gym exam? That really pisses me off."

"So I saw," Marth said, continuing with his typing. "I also overheard something about bending me over a desk."

Link raised an eyebrow and Roy backed away from the bluenette.

"When the heck'd you hear me say _that_?" Link asked, blinking in surprise. Marth grimaced.

"Well, I _am_ playing secretary for everyone's department, it seems, so I had to deliver the exams and what not to Samus and"--Marth paused so he could fix his glasses--"I heard what you were telling Roy."

Marth swiveled the chair away from the computer so he could face Link and Roy, looking over the tops of his glass frames at them.

Link gulped and was half-way out the door; Marth shouted something at Link in what he thought was Alteaen and stopped.

"I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded like you would rip my head off if I didn't stop and--"

"Link, you're not helping yourself here," Roy cut in. "And, judging by Marth's facial expression, you're gonna die. It was nice knowing you."

Roy was about to walk out when Link grabbed Roy's arm.

"Oh no," Link said, grinning insanely. "If _I'm_ gonna get the third degree, you're going down with me."

"You're the one who was talking about boners and Marth _in the same sentence_!"

"Wait, _what_?" Marth butted in, standing from his seat. "Link was talking about_what_?"

Roy laughed nervously, said very quickly, "Link said 'boner' and 'Marth' in the same sentence," and ran out of the office like Satan was on his rear.

"Don't leave me with him!" Link shouted after the red head. "Who knows what weird things she'll do to me?!"

Marth's eyes narrowed. "Did you just refer to me as a 'she'?"

Link thought back to what he said and paled. "Oh crap."

If looks could kill, Link would have been a smudge on the English Office wall.

-x-

"You know, for a swordsman, you punch _hard_," Link said, rubbing his aching and bruising arm. Marth scowled and retorted with, "I hope it hurts worse in the morning."

Roy, who was in between the two, could feel the tension between the two.

"So...what're everyone's lunch plans?"

Link sighed. "I was thinking of going to Pete's and getting a chicken parm sandwich to go. It's a nice day, so I figured I'd eat in front of the library or something."

Marth looked straight ahead, ignoring the nice scenery around them.

"Peach said she'd have lunch ready for us."

"I'm not eating with you," Link said. "Especially since Falchion's at The Manse, so you'll probably stab me or something."

Marth exhaled forcefully and said nothing more.

They passed Pete's on the way home, where Link said "adieu" and quickly hurried inside--Pete's was known for getting crowded as hell during the lunch hour--leaving Marth and Roy by themselves once again.

"So I stopped by Mewtwo's and Peach's classrooms before Link and I went to our lockers," Roy said, trying to break the unnerving silence.

"Mmm?" Marth acknowledged, crossing his arms. "What for?"

"Well, I wanted my exam grades."

"And what did you get?" Marth asked, interested.

"Well, I got a one hundred percent on my Japanese, a ninety five on my math, and a ninety percent on my Gym exams."

"All 'A's, I see."

"You sound disappointed," Roy remarked, and Marth wrapped an arm around Roy's shoulders.

"No, I'm just tired. Sitting in front of a computer typing up paperwork isn't how I like to necessarily spend my mornings."

They stopped at the corner once again, not too many cars were passing by, which surprised them. Usually the lunch hour was the busiest time of the day, especially since it was so nice out--in February no less.

"Your birthday's in June, right?" Roy asked as they waited. Marth glanced at Roy from the corner of his eye.

"Yes, it is," Marth answered. "Why?"

"That means you'll be nineteen when you graduate, right?"

"...Does that bother you?" Marth asked as the light changed to green. They crossed the street and continued walking the block and a half left.

"Not really," Roy replied. "Should it?"

Marth shrugged. "Don't see why it should."

They stopped at the corner just before The Manse.

"...You know, this whole 'deal' thing is stupid," Roy said, sitting on the curb. "If you wanna do _it_ then we just should. Making a bet or whatever isn't the right way to go about it."

Marth sat down beside Roy and placed his hand on top of Roy's.

"You're the one who inspired me to do it this way. If you want it done another way, tell me so."

Roy sighed and squeezed Marth's hand. "I still want a reward for doing good on my exams."

Marth chuckled and ruffled Roy's hair. "I'll give you a doggie treat when we get inside."

Roy snuggled up to Marth, squeezing the prince tightly and nuzzling his chest.

"But it's so _nice_ out. We should do something romantic."

Marth rested his head in Roy's hair, wrapping his arms around Roy's waist.

"I thought you weren't the romantic type."

A slight breeze blew through the area, rustling the fallen leaves on the ground, ruffling through the bushes and the grass, and messing up Marth's hair.

"I can be when I want to be," Roy answered after a brief pause. "Although I must say, it's nice to just sit here and be with you."

Marth kissed Roy's forehead as he ran his fingers through Roy's hair.

"Maybe later we can stroll through the park or something equally romantic. Right now, I'm starving." With that said, Marth disentangled himself from Roy and got up, offering Roy his hand. Roy took Marth's extended hand and pulled himself up, brushed himself off, and continued their half-block walk to The Manse.

"Besides, Peach is probably having a panic attack at our being late," Marth added, putting his hand in his pocket.

-x-

"I haven't done this in _ages_."

Roy looked dubiously at Marth's enthusiasm over practising his dancing for the Senior Prom.

"The last time I danced with someone, I ended up tripping and taking them down with me," Roy said, leaning against the wall of the training arena. Marth threw a glance at Roy over his shoulder as he went through the collection of music on his mp3 player.

"You're a noble and you can't dance?" Marth asked, trying to find a good song to dance to.

"In my defence, my father can't dance that well, either."

"And _how_ old is he, again?" Marth asked, trying to decide between two songs.

"Thirty seven."

"It's probably due to aging--you said he didn't age all that well, right? You not being able to dance is probably due to the fact that no one bothered to teach you properly."

Roy frowned at the choice of music--who the hell can dance to _The Who_?--and shrugged.

"A little too late to learn now," Roy said, walking over to where Marth was. "And let _me_ pick the song. You can't dance to "Behind Blue Eyes" without wanting to sob on your partner's shoulder."

Marth gave up control of the Nintenpod, his hands up in a defensive gesture, and sighed. He let his arms fall to his sides soundlessly.

"I could teach you to dance if you really wanted to learn."

Roy was searching for a good techno song, using it to by some time for answering Marth's question.

"I'd trip up and have you crash into me."

The first words of the song played before the synth kicked in, and Marth gave Roy the weirdest look.

"I thought you and Link didn't share the same taste in music."

Roy shrugged. "What can I say? This song is good for dancing to."

"Roy, this is _prom_. You don't dance elegantly to 'Cotton Eye Joe'."

Roy crossed his arms. "Whether it's prom or a wedding, this song is always played. And it's good to dance to besides."

Marth sighed, there was no use arguing with Roy's choice of logic, and stretched.

"Marth, this is_dancing_, not a sparring match."

"Swordsmanship and dancing aren't necessarily exclusive," Marth said. "Now do you want to learn how to dance or not? Besides, if I'm going to practise dancing, I need a partner, and you're the only one around."

Roy looked at him blankly. "Why not just ask Zelda? _She_ knows how to dance."

Marth grinned cheesily and took Roy's hand. "Nonsense. We're going to prom, so you need to know how to dance."

Marth positioned Roy's hands so that one was on his shoulder and the other around his waist. Roy blushed at the close contact and the fact that Marth gave him the_girl_ role, but then narrowed his eyes.

"If I trip or cause you bodily harm in any way, don't say I didn't warn you."

Marth laughed. "Consider your warning marked."

And then, Marth added, "I can't teach you how to dance properly with something techno-y like this."

Roy sighed. "It's at the end, let it switch to the next song."

The next song did indeed play, and Marth thought it was the absolutely cheesiest thing ever.

"'I'm like a kid with a toy'?" Marth repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"

Roy shrugged. "Shut up and dance already."

Marth smirked. "Alright then."

-x-

"Are they _slow dancing_?"

Link peered through the window of the training grounds' door, eyes wide. Zelda nodded.

"They've been doing that for the past hour now."

"...Don't tell me 'I'm in Heaven' was on repeat the whole time," Link asked rhetorically, hand on the doorknob.

"Probably, knowing Roy," Zelda replied. "But look, Roy's not that bad at dancing."

"That's because_Marth's_ leading. Once Roy starts, all hell breaks loose," Link stated, turning the knob of the door. "I'm going in there before they start drooling over each other. Or Marth dresses Roy up in a dress. Actually, that last idea isn't that bad..."

Without another word, Link pulled the door open and walked inside, receiving the full effect of the music.

"If they start making out, I'm gonna have to get the crow bar."

Just as Link said that, Marth pecked Roy on the lips and Link rolled his eyes.

"Here we go...better tell Zellie I'll need that crow bar..."

"Now you lead," Marth said, turning once again.

"Are you _nuts_?" Roy asked, emphasising the last word. "When I lead, bad things happen."

"Bad things happen to the inexperienced. As long as I'm your dance partner, no one will be decapitated or have a broken ankle or something."

Roy looked at Marth oddly but lead anyway, nearly stumbling. Marth covered up Roy's blunder by turning it into a dip, causing Roy to turn the colour of his hair.

"Why do _I_ get all the girly dance parts?" Roy asked, lacing his fingers together behind Marth's neck.

"Because having two guy parts would be extremely weird?" Marth answered, pulling Roy upright.

"Who said I was even_going_ to prom?" Roy asked, feeling relieved when Marth changed the song.

"...And why the hell did you change it to _Dragonforce_?"

"Because Dragonforce has great music," Marth replied. "And to answer your previous question, _I_ said you were going to prom. I already handed in the deposits and got us a table."

Roy sighed but said nothing.

"What the heck am I gonna even _wear_?" Roy questioned, still not recovering from Marth's unexpected choice in music.

"You're a noble, are you not?" Marth asked, not expecting an answer. "You should have something nice to wear."

"But..."

"Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out."

Marth kissed Roy's forehead reassuringly and Roy wondered what the hell Marth got him into.

-x-

"I didn't know you liked Dragonforce," Roy said to Marth as he waited for his soba noodles to boil. Marth cocked his head to the side, eyes focused on the mug of green tea he was holding in his clasped hands.

"They sound like eighties metal," Marth said before sipping at the green tinged drink.

"Huh," Roy said. "You don't look like a metal fan." He stirred the noodles with the ladle before checking to see if they were done.

"I'm not a Class A Band Geek, you know. I do listen to Metallica and Dragonforce and all those other bands. What'd you think I listened to, Beethoven?"

Roy scooped up some noodles into a bowl, adding various vegetables with the broth.

"I wouldn't put it past you, to be honest."

Roy turned the stove off, picked up his bowl, and walked over to the kitchen table where he sat next to Marth.

"So tell me a little about your personal life, Marthy," Roy said, scooping some noodles up into his chopsticks. "You give me the whole Spanish Inquisition about _my_ life, it's only fair I do the same thing."

Marth rested his head on his forearm. "What do you want to know?"

Roy slurped his noodles before placing the chopsticks on the holder and leant back in his chair.

"You mentioned in passing to me once that you were the youngest."

Marth fiddled with a piece of his hair. "Yes."

"You have a sibling, I'm guessing."

Marth perked up. "You sound like an attorney, and yes, I have a sibling. Just one."

Roy grinned. "You don't seem like the type to have any brothers or sisters. You look like an only child to me."

Marth moved Roy's bowl and took his chopsticks, picked up some noodles and ate them without slurping. Marth's ingrained table manners prevented him from doing so.

"People say that a lot," Marth said when he was done swallowing, picking up another chopstick-full of soba noodles.

"So is your older sibling a boy or a girl?"

Marth answered, as if his brain was on auto-pilot, "I have an older sister."

Roy smirked. "You know what they say about boys with older sisters. You didn't dress up in her clothes when you were younger, did you?"

Marth stuck his tongue out and Roy and said nothing except, "You would've liked that, wouldn't you?"

"Teasing aside," Roy continued, "what does she look like? You never show anyone pictures."

Marth grinned and handed Roy his dinner back.

"I look like my sister."

Roy nearly fell out of his chair.

"...Your sister's hot, then."

Marth stuck his tongue out again. "She's too old for you, she's four years my senior."

Roy poked Marth's arm with a chopstick. "Not quite old enough to be my mother."

"Your mother was probably way younger than your father," Marth said, poking Roy with the other chopstick.

Roy thought for a moment. "Actually, my mother was older than my father."

Marth shrugged. "Probably by a year."

Roy drank some of the broth, scooping some of the noodles in his mouth as he did so. He set the bowl down, chopstick on the table.

"I think it was more than that. He never told me the exact age gap."

"Must've been pretty large, then," Marth mused.

"Hey, how did we get on the subject of _me_ again?"

"Through my sister, somehow."

Marth leaned forward more, the chair creaking slightly.

"Does your sister have a name?"

Marth shrugged. "I suppose so. It'd be odd for her not to."

"...Oh man, it's not 'Martha' or anything, is it?"

Marth sighed. "No, it's not Martha. Her name is Elice."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "El-ihs?"

Marth shook his head. "El-ees," he corrected.

"That's with a 'c'?"

"Correct."

Roy smiled. "Well, it's way better than Martha."

"And you...you're an only child?"

Roy nodded. "Yep. I have a friend I consider like my brother, though, since we had the same nursemaid."

"But he's not related by blood?"

Roy smirked. "All the males look like their father, and Wolt looks nothing like my side."

Marth shrugged. "How the hell would I know?"

Roy leaned forward. "You wouldn't. But anyway, it's late and I've run out of questions to ask."

Marth pushed his chair back and stretched. "It's bad to go to bed after eating."

Roy grinned like the Cheshire Cat and ran circles over Marth's chest with a finger.

"Who said I was going to bed?"

Marth blushed. "Well what _else_ would you be doing?"

"More like _who_ would I be doing."

"Roy..."

"I'll see you in five minutes, Marthy."

With a kiss, Roy ran ahead of the prince, off to make preparations for things Marth didn't want to think about, but he thought about them anyway.


	11. Chapter 11

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Eleven-**

**Disclaimer:** Super Smash Brothers Melee is owned by Hal Laboratories/Nintendo. "I Can Walk on Water, I Can Fly" belongs to Basshunter.

It was a lovely day out; the temperature was a little on the high side (for Marth, anyway, who thought anything above sixty eight degrees was scolding hot), but the sun was shining, the clouds were scared away for the day, and the sky was as blue as the lakes of the Great Bay. Marth and Roy were taking advantage of such weather to sit at one of the picnic tables and have a semi-romantic picnic. Roy held a plate with a slice of cheesecake on it, cut into it with his fork, and held it in front of Marth.

"Who told you cheesecake was my favourite?" Marth asked before taking the offered bite of food. Roy shrugged.

"Peach made it once and you said something about it. I guess I just remembered."

Marth smiled and leaned over to kiss Roy on the mouth when a familiar blond in a green t-shirt and brown pants came meandering over.

"Hey, didja guys hear the news?" Link looked like a three year old in a candy store, his hands gripping the edge of the table as he bounced back and forth. Roy, disappointed at the interruption, placed a hand between his and Marth's mouths; Marth had stopped halfway there anyway and made it look like he was tying his shoe.

"Hear what?" Roy asked as he placed the dish on the table. The fork clattered against the fine china, but Link didn't seem to notice the noise. Roy wasn't too happy that Link just completely ruined whatever romantic mood there was, and from the looks Marth was shooting the blond, Roy could tell Marth wasn't too happy, either.

Link cleared his throat and performed a very uncoordinated drum roll.

"The puffballs are getting married."

Roy and Marth looked at each other and then to Link. To break the awkward tension between the blond and the bluenette, Roy shoved a piece of cheesecake into Marth's mouth.

"You're kidding," said Marth after swallowing the fluffy dessert.

Link shook his head. "But there's even _better_ news than the stupid puffballs."

Roy poked Link in the arm with his butter knife. "Kirby's actually a pretty cool guy once you get to know him. Don't be hatin'."

Link blinked and then continued. "Anyway, about that other good news..."

"You're going to leave Roy and I alone so we can continue our date?"

Link laughed, his fist pounding the table to emphasise it.

"That's funny, Marth. But anyway, Zelda and I are _dating_."

It was a good thing Marth wasn't eating anything, otherwise, he would have choked on it.

"I always thought you were...you know..._gay_," Roy said at last.

There was silence except for Young Link running past, chasing after Ness with a Lip's Stick in hand.

"That was deep, Roy," Link said. Looking at the table and seeing the glass in front of him, Link dipped his fingers into it. (Marth made a note to not drink from that glass afterwards.) Drawing trails down his cheek, he said, "I'm crying, Roy. _Crying emo tears_."

Roy sipped soda from his glass and stared over the rim at Link, whose face was now dripping with Mountain Dew.

"Where did you get the impression that I was gay, anyway? I'm not in Band or anything..."

Marth glared at Link and crossed one leg over the other, his head leaning on his hand.

"_Excuse me_, Link, but cheerleading is pretty queer for a man to do," Marth retorted.

"Band is _queerer_, Princess; have you seen what people do with their clarinets?"

Marth shrugged. "Kelly - one of the clarinet players - has done nothing but play his, clean it every once in a while, and try to not smack people over the head with it. I play the _flute_." Marth didn't acknowledge the "princess" part of Link's statement.

Link snorted. "That's even _gayer_ than cheerleading _and_ clarinets. Then again, I never thought you were straight to begin with."

Oh, Link was so lucky Falchion was up in his room, for Marth would have stabbed Link repeatedly at that comment. Instead, Marth got up from the table, brushed past Link in the most un-princely manner, and went through the back doors of the mansion.

Link leant against the table and sighed in a frustrated manner, Roy staring out towards the horizon.

"Could you _not_ be a complete ass to Marth for _once_, Link?"

Link grunted in a noncommitted sort of way. "He just makes me so _mad_..."

"No," Roy said, "you make _him_ mad. You know Marth's still not comfortable about his sexuality. The fact that you used the oldest insult in the book _and_ used stereotypes just...made it a not good situation."

Link snorted. "You knew I was kidding about the emo tears and stuff, right?"

"Yes," Roy said, stirring his Mountain Dew with his straw. "But you know how Marth is..."

"Serious," Link cut in. "He's too darn serious. I think he needs to get laid."

At that comment, Roy turned the colour of his hair, and Link caught it.

"...Gimme details," Link said, sitting down next to the red head. Roy scoffed.

"Details for _what_?"

Link smirked. "Oh you _know_ what. Did he go slow or was it hot and fast paced?"

Roy looked away from Link, unable to look into his eyes.

"We're not there yet."

Link sighed. "You have Mr. Prude for a boyfriend, Roy. I don't think you'll _ever_ get there."

Roy chuckled in a sarcastic sort of way.

"You should see him when we're alone. You wouldn't think that then."

With that, Roy got up from the table and went back inside to find his boyfriend.

-x-

"Marth?" Roy knew he was in the library somewhere, it was just a matter of _finding_ his princely boyfriend. "Maaarth!"

After passing by row after row of shelves, he spotted Marth sitting at a table with a book in front of him. Walking up quietly behind him, Roy wrapped his arms around Marth's shoulders and kissed his cheek.

"Knew I should've gone elsewhere," Marth muttered as he closed the book with a muted thud. He attempted to stand from his seat, but Roy wouldn't let him; he instead rubbed his cheek against Marth's.

"Marthy," Roy whispered, "why are you mad at _me_?"

A sigh, and then, "I'm _not_. I heard what Link said after I left."

_Oh crap_, Roy thought, nuzzling into Marth's collar.

"...You think I'm a prude, don't you." It was not a question; Marth announced it as if it were fact.

Roy shook his head and nipped at Marth's neck. "No, I don't."

"It's all right if you do. I don't really _care_."

Roy pulled away from Marth and pulled up the chair behind him. Sitting down, Roy took Marth's hand and squeezed it.

"I don't think you're prudish and I know you care."

Marth sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes over the rims of his wire-framed glasses.

"Marth, _really_, I don't care if you don't like making out in public or if you'd rather not slam me against the lockers and screw me senseless. That shows that you think about other things we could do aside from getting all touchy-feely."

When he saw Marth's skeptical look, Roy added, "_Marth_, I'd rather we held hands and walked along the shoreline than you bend me over the picnic table, pull my pants down, and do me. Really. I love that about you. I don't care _what_ Link calls it - I love it. Now stop looking at me like that."

Marth was looking at Roy with a weird look not because of how sincere Roy was, but because of the vulgarity and bluntness _in_ the sincereness. Then again, Marth admired Roy for his eloquency.

The expression on Roy's face made Marth laugh a little, and he squeezed Roy's hand.

"I'm still in shock over Link and Zelda getting together, so I guess I acted not like myself back there. I've just been thinking about some things... They're clouding my mind, I guess."

Roy moved from the chair to Marth's lap, startling him slightly.

"Tell me about them," Roy said, moving a stray strand of hair out of Marth's face. "Maybe you'll feel better."

"Well... Zelda found out about my promise to you and said that I shouldn't feel obligated to do something like that."

At first, Roy didn't know what promise Marth was talking about, but then it hit him. End of exams. He passed all of his exams with A's. Marth promised to, in not so flowery speech, make him his.

_Oh, so _that's _why Marth gave me that look when I talked about him bending me over a table and screwing me_.

"...and so I've felt guilty for not just doing the damn deed like I promised..." Marth continued, unaware of Roy being lost in his thoughts.

"Marth," Roy said, "you don't have to keep that promise if it makes you feel uncomfortable. It's not like it's important."

There was a stagnant silence between them as Roy twirled a lock of Marth's hair around his finger - he needed a hair cut.

"...Do _you_ want it?"

Roy had wished Marth didn't ask such a question, if for nothing more than the images it brought to mind. Roy had fantasised about Marth, of course, and here Marth was, telling him that those fantasies could become reality if he said one little word. The images in his head made Roy's face feel warm.

"Want what?" Roy asked stupidly, staring at Marth with what he hoped was a blank look.

In a somewhat-serious tone, Marth said, "Sex. Do you want it?"

Before Roy realised what he was doing, he kissed Marth so fiercely that his breath was taken away.\

That was all Marth needed.

-x-

"M-Marth..."

His name was a whisper in his ear as Roy's fingers dug into his back, his knees bent as Marth moved in between them to a rhythm only they knew. Roy mewled as Marth's lips sought for his neck, leaving wet kisses in his wake. Roy's grip on Marth's forearm was tight, his head reeling from such intense bliss. Roy gasped suddenly, his body tensing, and then he realised he couldn't see anything but the ceiling.

"_Maaaarth_!"

Roy had never felt like this before, like he was high above the clouds and there was no going down, that it was just him and Marth and no one else in the universe existed at that moment. It just felt so good, like all the pain in the universe simply didn't exist anymore, that it was nothing but pleasure and bliss and...

Then, just as he came down from his high, Marth fell next to him on the bed in a sweaty heap as he tried to catch his breath. Roy shivered from the sudden change in temperature and snuggled close to Marth, though he winced when he moved.

"L-Let's do that again some...time," Roy said, half whispering as the world crashed down all around him.

"It wasn't _that_ great," Marth replied, pulling the covers over themselves. "I mean, I guess for the first time it was, anyway."

Roy yawned. "Says the guy who's had it before."

"This is true," Marth said into Roy's hair as his boyfriend curled against him. "I guess you enjoyed it."

Roy didn't answer, for he fell asleep against the sweat-soaked pillow, oblivious to anything else in the world except the man beside him.

-x-

"Y'know, it'd be nice if you sat down and ate your breakfast," Link remarked as Roy ate by the kitchen counter, being careful as to not lean against it with his rear.

"I'm fine with standing. We have to leave for school in a few minutes, anyway. And why the hell is Marth taking so long?"

As Link scooped more Fruit Loops into his mouth, Marth entered the kitchen looking happier than ever. Walking over to the cupboard to get a bowl, he gave Roy a kiss on the cheek, walked past him, and retrieved the milk from the fridge.

"I still don't see how you can eat cereal dry," Marth said as he sat down on his chair, pouring milk into the bowl and reaching for the cereal box.

"Well you look cheerful today," Link remarked, his mouth full of the artificially flavoured breakfast food. "Did you sleep well for the first time since Mario moved to the other end of the hall? 'Cause I sure did. His snoring was driving me crazy."

Marth hadn't noticed that Mario was moved, or that Mario even snored. If anything, it was Mario's roommate - whoever that was - who snored incessantly and quite loudly. He even remembered Roy getting up one time in the middle of the night a while ago and throwing something at him.

"I didn't notice anything," Roy piped in, drinking his tea. "Then again, I was as dead as a log last night, so I probably wouldn't."

Marth ate his cereal silently, avoiding Link's gaze, which had questions etched in them, questions Marth did not wish to answer right then, especially since Peach had just walked in.

"Morning, boys," Peach said as she grabbed her apron off the hook by the door, placed it around her neck, and tied the back part around her waist.

"Morning, Peach," they replied in unison, though Link was barely understandable from the food shoved in his mouth, so it sounded more like, "Mmphin, Feef."

"You look uncomfortable today, Roy," Peach noted, heating up the stove.

Not wanting to seem suspicious, Roy said, "I just slept kind of funny, so I'm a bit stiff."

Link wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and got up from the table quite abruptly, the chair nearly falling backwards onto the floor.

"Oh shit I totally forgot we have the State Bio thingy _today_ and oh Din I don't remember _anything_ I learned in Bio and _crap_ I'm screwed and..."

As Link began rummaging through his bag for the Biology notebook he barely used, Roy finished his tea and toast and placed his dishes in the sink.

"Where's your blazer, Roy?" Marth asked, pushing his chair back enough for him to get out. He picked up his dirtied dishes and put them into the sink on top of Roy's, staring at his boyfriend. "Master Hand will get his fingers all disjointed if you don't wear it."

Roy gave him an "are-you-crazy?" look and pointed to the outdoor thermostat located on the window sill.

"It says it's seventy nine degrees out, and if the Weather Channel is right, it's supposed to hit ninety today. Which is going to totally suck because we're going to be in the gym the whole morning, Link's probably going to stab himself with his pencil, and I'm going to be sweating like hell. I'd rather not wear it."

Sighing and shaking his head, Marth walked over to his chair and pushed it in, nearly tripping over Link's body, which was on the floor searching for something he probably dropped.

"They said you had to be there when?" Marth inquired, picking up his book bag and sliding the strap onto his shoulder.

"By eight fifteen," Roy replied, crossing his arms as Marth handed him his blazer. "And I _said_ I'm not wearing it."

Shoving it into Roy's arms, Marth replied, "At least bring it so I don't have to forge another signature for your out of uniform slips."

Giving Marth a confused look, Marth amended his sentence. "Right. _Link's_ out of uniform slips."

"It's not my--OW!--fault that I think ties are miniature nooses created by some sadistic pig," Link said, emerging from underneath the table, his fingers rubbing the spot where his head collided with the table edge.

"Then wear it around your head as a bandana or something," Marth replied. "I don't really care _how_ you wear it or where it's located - Master Hand is strict about it and I'm tired of trying to learn everyone's signatures."

Opening the door, Roy joked, "Just remember that my father makes a really loopy and big 'P' for 'Pherae', mkay?"

Link got up and brushed himself off, his bag and its contents in his hands and mouth. Quickly dumping everything back whence it came, Link remarked, "Just come up with an imaginary person for me - the Great Deku Tree lacked arms, so he couldn't write or sign anything. Though I suppose Zellie could sign for me..."

Realising that Marth and Roy had left without him, he tripped out the door and ran after them, hoping they didn't get too far ahead. Then again, Link also forgot that Marth and Roy were Melee Academy's best runners, and Link would have no chance to catch up if they did a marathon run.

-x-

"How the hell am I supposed to sit through eight periods of boringness when my ass hurts?" Roy complained as Marth reorganised their locker.

"Dunno," Marth replied, pen in between his teeth and glasses perched on top of his head, just in front of his tiara. "Why is some of Link's stuff in here?...I warned you that it would hurt, though, so don't bitch at me. And I hope Link doesn't wonder why he's failing half of his classes - his homework's in our locker!"

Roy mock-gasped at the swear word and needed the flimsy locker door to keep upright.

"Prince Marth Lowell, your mouth is simply _atrocious_."

Marth stopped what he was doing to look at Roy with a "don't push me" look.

"It's not a swear word if you use it as a verb," Marth retorted. "The verb form of 'bitch' means 'to complain in an annoying manner'."

Smirking with his arms crossed and his side against the adjacent locker, Roy said, "And what's the verb form of 'bitch' in Altean?"

Roy had a new favourite word that he couldn't wait to share with everyone else.

-x-

"Heeeey, Link," Roy said as he sidled up to the blond teen. "How's life?"

Link, who had borrowed Roy's Biology notes, said, "I think I'm going to kill myself."

Roy gave Link a weird look and then shrugged, figuring that it was normal for Link to say such a thing.

"Got anything to _ana_ about?"

Peering over the top of the olive green-coloured notebook, Link shot him a look of confusion.

"'Scuse me?"

"That's not how you pronounce it," Marth butt in, slightly out of breath. "Knew I'd find you here," he said when Roy gave him a look.

"Well then how does one pronounce it?" Roy asked. "It's the same thing in Sacaean."

"First off, you're missing a few letters. Second of all, Altean and Sacaean are _similar_, like Dutch and German. Third, you sound like one of those anime fans who sprinkle their sentences with words like _kawaii_, and call themselves _otaku_."

Link dropped the notebook and nearly cried. "I'll never remember any of this crap! I'm going to end up in remediation Science or something! I'm doomed! _Doomed_!"

"...You didn't the announcement?" Roy asked, poking the spazzing blond in the arm. "The Bio Assessment thing is cancelled. They'll just use our Bio exams instead."

Link dropped to his knees, arms outstretched above his head. "The Three Goddesses _do_ love me!"

Roy and Marth stared at Link for a few seconds before returning to their previous conversation.

"Anyway, how does one pronounce it?"

Taking a deep breath and looking around for any witnesses (other than Link, but he had his own problems to worry about), he repeated it.

"_Amaretare_? Do you realise how _long_ that word is? Is there slang or anything for it?"

"Don't roll the 'r's, Roy, this isn't Pheraean we're speaking," Marth corrected whilst watching Link mutter things in Hylian.

"_Mo ichi do onegaishimasu_," Roy said, asking for Marth to repeat himself.

"First we go from English to Altean to Japanese." Marth inhaled and exhaled very slowly.

"_Ah-mah-reh-tah-reh_."

And so, after three tries, Roy finally got the hang of it.

"Next you'll have to teach me some dirty words."

Scoffing, the prince said, "In your dreams."

The bell rang on that note and trio walked together towards their next class.

-x-

"Turn your books to page three hundred forty seven, and you there, in the back! Stop giving me dirty looks or I swear I'll use Black Magic to throw you out the window," Mr. Dragmire said, wandering over to the chalkboard. "Chapter eleven," he said as he wrote, "the wonderful land of Elibe."

Roy often wondered why he had to learn history, anyway, especially his own. If he wanted to know something, he could just ask his father.

"First, we'll learn all about the continent. In the past, there were towns here and there along the place. This was before the countries were formed. A war broke out, and the countries were founded by the heroes."

Roy knew all of this already - when he studied in Ostia, he was required to learn about Elibe's history. That and the fact that he lived in Lycia, which was rich with historical things, counted towards his knowledge.

"There are seven countries: Ilia, Sacae, Bern, Etruria, Lycia, Nabata, and the Western Isles. Each was founded by one of the Eight Legends. Sir Barigan founded Ilia, Hanon founded Sacae and their Kutolah tribe, Hartmut founded Bern, Elimine founded Etruria, Nabata was founded by Archsage Athos, and Durbans founded the Western Isles. ...I don't think I'm missing anyone, am I?"

Oh if his father were here, he would have freaked.

"Mr. Dragmire?" Roy asked as he raised his hand. "You forgot Roland. He founded Lycia. And Brammimond didn't found a country."

Mr. Dragmire glared at Roy for a brief second before saying, "Yes, whatever."

"Well, I think Roland is quite important, seeing as he founded my home country and my family's descended from him... And he fought in the Scouring, thus saving the world from Dragons."

Ganondorf threw down his book and glared some more.

"Why don't _you_ teach my class then, Mr. Pherae?"

Roy grinned sheepishly. "Uh...no thanks."

"I'm not offended in the least, Mr. Pherae. Go on. Clearly you're an expert."

Well, Roy _was_ from Lycia, therefore it would be retarded for him to _not_ know all about the legends and how the countries came into being.

-x-

"Mr. Lowell, please tell me what _you_ think the meaning of Mr. Antolini's quote in chapter twenty four is." Mr. M. Mario held _The Catcher in the Rye_ open on his desk with his hand, for lack of a good paperweight on his desk.

"Err..." Despite the fact that Marth was the crown prince of Altea, he was not good at speaking in front of people. Public speaking was an evil that he had yet to conquer, and accepted the fact that he probably never would get over it. What made the whole thing worse was the fact that Marth felt uncomfortable when he _wasn't_ talking.

"Well, I think it means that...well...Holden's got a lot of growing up to do. He thinks that school is unimportant in his life, and he's wasting his time on trivialities instead of finding something worth while. That's...that's what I think, sir."

Mario stroked his moustache as he mulled Marth's words over in his head, nodding every now and then.

"That sounds very reasonable, Marth. It makes sense. Do you think that he could potentially end up dying for a cause _he_ thinks is noble, but in reality it really isn't? Is that what you're saying?"

It took Marth thirty seconds to understand what Mario said, for Marth - though he had him for a full two years now - could not comprehend the thick Italian accent Mario possessed.

"...I...I guess so."

Mario jumped off of his desk (which was almost as tall as him) and walked over to the chalkboard.

"Do you wish to pursue a career in psychology, Marth?"

Psychology? Marth knew about as much about psychology as he did about how to milk a cow - that is to say, jack all. As a royal, Marth needed to be able to "read" people, to pick up subtleties others could not see or hear. He didn't think psychology had anything to do with it.

"N-No, sir. Not that I know of."

The rest of the class (whatever part wasn't asleep, anyway) snickered, and Marth wished he could carry around one of those cloaking devices. Alas, it wasn't his week to do inventory in the Stadium, and the Hands would probably kill him for "stealing" one. That and they wore off after a while, and how would he explain suddenly appearing in a class he was marked absent in thirty minutes ago?

"Perhaps you should consider it." And with that, Mario continued on with the lesson.

Marth did not want to know what went on in other people's heads. What went through his _own_ was scary enough - he didn't need to know about someone else's psychological problems.

A knock resounded on the door, and a custodian entered, dripping water onto the floor with a split plunger shaft in his hand.

"Mario, we need your assistance. Major cloggage in the bathroom on this floor."

Mario grunted, not liking the fact that his lesson was interrupted.

"Get Luigi to handle it."

The custodian chuckled. "Actually, he said for _you_ to handle it. And since you're on this floor..."

Letting out a sigh of reluctance, Mario walked through the doorway. "Watch my class for me. They're to read the next two chapters."

And so the custodian sat down in Mario's desk chair, kicked his feet up, and basically ignored Mario's simple request. Marth, being the avid reader he was, reread the whole book once more; it was his eighth time reading it now.

_I wonder what Roy's doing_, Marth thought as he turned the page. _I heard Ganondorf mutter something about Elibe today_.

-x-

Link tried very hard to pay attention to Sheik's lesson on Hylian verb conjugations, but it just wasn't working. The class was such an easy A for Link that he often ceased paying attention after five minutes. So he took out his Nintenpod, placed the ear bud in his ear, and switched on some techno music.

_I will never be afraid again,_

_I will keep on fighting till the end._

_I can walk on water, I can fly,_

_I will keep on fighting till I die._

It was Link's new favourite song of the week. Link had a strange love for techno music, and no one, not even himself, could figure out why. Most of the time, he blamed it on Roy's strange taste in music - the kid had techno, German metal, pop, J-Pop, rock, punk, and boybands all on one playlist - because that was where he usually got things from. After all, it couldn't have come from Marth, who stuck to The Who and Led Zeppelin, though Link caught Marth listening to Roy's Swedish techno music - the music Link was listening to at that moment - once or twice.

It was a good thing Sheik was also Zelda. She let him get away with too much.

-x-

"Why the hell do I have to spend my study hall looking up dead monarchs? Honestly? I don't give a damn about old Talisian kings..."

Marth slowly scoured the bookshelves in the _World History_ section of the library, reading glasses positioned on the middle of his nose as his fingers brushed against each and every book spine.

"And who the hell assigns projects in May? School's almost over, for crying out loud..." He grit his teeth and bit his tongue, ignoring the strange sensation he often got when he stopped talking.

It wasn't unusual to find Marth talking to himself in a library. The whole school knew about the prince and his strange habits, though the freshmen still gave him weird looks every now and then, mostly when Marth would mutter about various school projects he had to do research for, or whole paragraphs in Altean that they had no clue as to what their meaning was. Most people knew Marth had "word vomit", that is, Marth just _couldn't shut up_.

Pulling a book from its place, he perched it against his forearm, the bottom of it in the crook of it as he flipped through the pages. He could pass for a scholar who handled ancient texts with the way he treated every book - that is to say, he treated everything as if the pages would suddenly crumble away into nothingness. Closing it with a slam, he moved down the aisle with the book under his arm in search of more.

"Miss Zelda Harkinian, please report to Doctor Mario's office. Miss Zelda Harkinian, please report to Doctor Mario's office. Thank you," the voice on the intercom said, breaking Marth's concentration. He nearly dropped the small pile of books he was carrying in his arms, startled.

"Well, I guess this is all..." Marth said, skimming the shelves for other interesting books. A book entitled 'The Scouring: The Full History of Man vs. Dragons" caught his eye, and he paused in front of it.

"Huh," Marth said, "I guess I'm not the only one who's had to fight a Dragon." He removed the book from the shelf, placed it in the almost-too-large pile currently in his arms, and walked towards the check-out queue.

There were two other people in front of him, each with piles that were almost half the size of Marth's locker.

_Crap_, Marth thought. _Why do the nerds _always _have to take out a million books? Why can't they just choose a few?_

Marth couldn't talk, however; there were at least fifteen books in his arms. Fifteen thick and heavy-set books.

He was lucky he regularly Fenced, otherwise his arms would have probably given out from the weight.

-x-

"So Link, were you faking or did you really pass out?" Roy asked as he and Link walked up the stairs to the second floor new building.

Link smiled sheepishly, his fingers playing with his hair.

"Oh Elimine," Roy said, pointing at the blond's hair entangled around his fingers, "you're becoming like _Marth_."

Link blinked, shifting his English books so they wouldn't fall from his arm. "I am?"

Roy nodded, a smirk on his face. "Marth does that when he gets bored or flustered."

Link ripped his hands from his hair immediately; Marth and Link still didn't apologise to each other after the huge blow up about the weekend.

"You know, if you want me to talk to Marth for you...," Roy offered, opening the door that led to the floor above.

Link shook his head. "No, that's okay. But thanks."

They walked up the stairs, their footfalls reverberating off the walls of the empty stairwell.

"'Cause I mean, you know... I don't want this rift in the friendship," Roy continued, opening the door to the third floor new building. "That's the last thing I'd need."

They walked through the doorway and turned right to the Chorus room, the outer door already open for them. Opening the inner door, they left their stuff on the nearest desk and exited the room to go to the cafeteria.

-x-

"It wouldn't've killed you to wait or anything," Link said sarcastically, his plate of food balanced in his hand as he picked his belongings up off the desk. "But that'd be too considerate for the peasant."

Marth said nothing as he unceremoniously sat down in his seat, unwrapping the tin foil from his "spicy chicken parm sandwich", which had a heap of barbecue sauce on the inside of the bun.

"Will you just shut up, Link? Your social class has nothing to do with your tasteless comments."

"Oh, right, I'm sure that's what you tell the people of Altea who come to you in rags and wonder why their taxes are reaping their hard-earned money."

Marth clenched his jaw and the door closed and Roy stood there, tray filled with various kinds of food.

"What'd I miss?"

Shooting a glare at Marth, Link said, "Tell your _boyfriend_ that I hate his guts and wish he'd fall on his sword."

Roy shot a look at Link that said, "If you had just _listened_ to me..."

"Tell him yourself, Link. You probably started it."

"Oh, so now you're taking _his_ side?

Roy placed his lunch down on the seat next to Marth. "I'm not taking _anyone's_ side because you're both acting like you're in second grade."

"If I were in second grade, I wouldn't be seeing Marth. One, he's older than me, and two, he was probably given the best private tutors to give him an education. I got nothing."

Roy sighed, moved his stuff so it was on the desk, and sat down to eat.

Roy was taken off guard when Marth kissed him on the mouth - something he usually didn't do in public - with such an intensity Roy only knew when they were alone.

Marth was trying to prove a point, Roy knew. That he wasn't a prude, that he wasn't stuck up.

-x-

"Marth, you don't have to prove anything to him!" Roy yelled as Marth pulled him to the bathroom. "Maaaaarth!"

Marth pushed Roy against the tiled wall and kissed him hard, his hands pulling Roy's shirt out of his pants.

"Marth, will you listen to me?" Roy said when Marth broke the kiss and instead focused on Roy's neck. "_Marth_! You don't have to prove to Link _anything_!" It didn't deter Marth any, in fact, it made it worse. Marth nipped at Roy's collar bone, his hand roaming underneath Roy's shirt, his other hand undid Roy's belt.

"Stop!"

Marth stumbled back and blinked, his hand caressing his reddening cheek.

"Now that I have your attention," Roy said, rubbing his hand, which stung from it colliding with Marth's face, "I need to talk to you."

"Roy, wait a second."

Roy's face relaxed when Marth placed his hands on his shoulders.

"I'm being stupid," Marth said, bringing his one hand up to cup Roy's face. "I...I'm sorry. I guess I..." He sighed, frustrated at his inability to just come out and say what he felt.

Roy touched the red mark on Marth's face and replied, "You _were_ stupid. That's why I had to make you come to your senses... I wish I could've done it in a better way, but..."

"I wasn't listening, was I."

Roy shook his head. "No, you weren't."

A minute passed, the sounds of students could no longer be heard outside the bathroom.

"I'll go talk to Link when we get home, all right?" Marth kissed Roy's forehead.

"Good," Roy replied. "You need to talk with him."

Marth gawked at Roy for a second.

"...I didn't realise I had gotten that far," Marth remarked, gesturing to Roy's undone pants.

"You didn't realise a lot of things," Roy replied, redoing his pants and his belt. "Like the fact that you almost... Well anyway, we should be going."

Marth shook his head. "Not like that you won't. People might think we were doing something in here." His tone was full of disapproval.

Roy shrugged. "Who _cares_, Marth? I'll just tell them it was the best fuck ever and they don't know what they're missing."

Marth sighed, his shoulders slumping, as he looked at Roy with a "you're hopeless" look.

"Hey, if I can make people jealous because I have an awesome boyfriend and that they don't..." Roy grinned as he tucked his shirt in a bit.

Marth smiled as he led Roy out of the bathroom by the shoulders.

"As always, we're the last ones to leave," a voice said. Marth and Roy looked in the direction the voice came from and recognised the person at once.

"Link." Marth's eyes narrowed as Link pushed off from the wall.

"Oh come now, Marth, our argument was stupid. I admit it."

"Good," was all Marth said.

"...Is that a sign of forgiveness?" Link asked, his voice hopeful.

As they neared Link, Marth shrugged. "Yes, I guess it is. You know I can't stay mad at you for long."

Link grinned widely. "I know. I'm just that neat."

And so they left the building as if no altercations had ever come between them.

Well, that was until the next time, anyway.


	12. Chapter 12

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Twelve-**

It was, to the Three Swordsmen, an ordinary day. That is, it was a normal day if you counted Master Hand wrestling on the front lawn of the campus with Crazy Hand while Bowser and Ganondorf high-fived each other as they watched Mr. Game and Watch flapping away in the breeze - his protests over being strung up onto the flagpole went ignored by the Hands and the cackling villain-teachers below.

Welcome to the Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys (of Outstanding Performance and Ability, however, that part didn't fit on the sign outside, so it was just shortened to the Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys), run by two giant hands who were left in charge of a mansion full of humans and talking animals and a two dimensional figure. Events such as two hands wrestling on the front lawn were commonplace and, as a result, no one paid much attention to the scene - unless you were a freshman, in which case, it was a weird sight.

Link snapped a picture of the scene for his scrapbook, Roy saluted the rippling Game and Watch-shaped flag (that really wasn't a flag, but Roy did not know that then), and Marth rolled his eyes as Ganondorf's laughter mingled with Bowser's roar for students to flee the area "or else". Poor Gary Stu Wesker ended up wearing foam from a fire extinguisher because he pissed off the Koopa King.

Yep, just an ordinary day.

They entered the entirely-too-hot school facility, which was more like an oven than a school at that temperature. Their shirts, which were already drenched with sweat from their morning commute, reached their threshold for absorbency and so instead, the moisture clung to their bodies like a second skin.

"Oh, let me _guess_," Link said as they walked up the stairs to the third floor new building, "MH is too cheap to have any air conditioning here."

Roy covered his mouth as he yawned. "If he can't even fix the _Manse's_ a/c, what makes you think he'll fix the _school's_?"

"Point taken," Link said as he opened the hallway door, "but isn't that illegal?"

Roy shrugged. "We don't have air conditioning in Pherae, but it's cool all year round anyway, because we're by the Missur Ocean."

Marth approached his locker and opened it; he picked out his first and second period items before deciding to add in his own two cents.

"I think he's waiting for approval from Mr. Sakurai before he puts air conditioning in," Marth said. "He _is_ the superintendent, after all, and he's the one who left the Hands in charge of the Manse. Besides" -here Marth wrapped his arms around Roy's and Link's shoulders after dropping his books to the floor - "we only have a week left of school, unless you count today. So air conditioning isn't even that important."

Roy ducked out from Marth's embrace and grabbed his stuff from his locker.

"It will be at the Manse, though. Otherwise Master Hand will have to deal with twenty five hospital bills for heat stroke."

-x-

May had passed by like a blur, it seemed, like everything was going on around them out of focus - kind of like the passing scenery in a moving car. The trees were in full bloom, the petals on them shedding and blowing to and fro in the breeze, showering everyone and everything with the blossoms. The flower buds poked up from underground at last, happy to soak up some well-wanted sunshine. Finally, the days seemed to be endless with the later sunsets, dragging on and on with no sense of direction. There was a different smell in the air - the scent of summer, the scent of June - the milder of the summer months. And it wasn't even the beginning of June - they were almost half-way through already.

"Oh Din," Link said as he looked at the exam schedule with wide eyes, "I have my Hylian language exam first thing in the morning."

"Don't you usually have Hylian first period?" Marth asked as he leaned against the wall outside the Italian classroom.

"Yeah," Link replied as he shifted from one foot to the other, "but I have no idea what the heck's going on in that class."

Roy, who you could tell did not want to be there, slid down the faux-brick backwall with his arms around his books.

"You really have to get your attention span checked," Roy said.

Link huffed out a response. "I have the mentality of an eight year old, I'm sorry I can't help it."

Roy looked at his exam schedule and groaned; Link nearly cried at the thought of his second period exam.

"I have history first period," Roy complained, folding the junky-looking paper back up.

"I heard about the things that're gonna be on it," Link said, sitting down across from Roy.

"Like what?" Roy asked. "Tell me so I won't fail _too_ badly."

"Oh, you're not going to fail it," Marth interjected. "History's your thing."

"We spent all of March and most of April on _Akaneia_, and I had no idea what the hell Ganondorf was saying most of the time. And nothing against you, Marth, but there are too many damn names to remember."

Link covered up a snicker with a very fake sounding cough, and Marth sighed.

"Well I agree with you there. Did you learn about Anri at all?"

The blank look Marth received from Roy told him that no, Roy had no idea who Anri was.

"Then what _did_ Ganondorf teach you?"

Roy shrugged. "I wouldn't be able to pronounce any of the names, so just throw something at me."

So Marth threw a bunch of names at Roy.

"Ganondorf kept saying 'Dohula' on that one."

Marth, who was currently flipping through the five chapters on Akaneia, gave Roy a look.

"Where'd he get an 'h' from? It's Dolua."

Roy made a noise that sounded like an "I don't know".

Marth closed the textbook with a finalising _thump_.

"I wish I could help you, Roy," Marth said as he handed the red head his textbook back, "but I can't condense thousands of years worth of history into something you'd remember in five minutes."

Roy banged his head against the backwall out of frustration. "What's my father gonna say when he sees an 'F' on my exam?"

And something came to Marth just then.

"Oh _crap_, I have my AP English exam and I didn't study for it at all!"

Whatever luck Marth had before that day had just run out; the bell rang as if it knew it was sentencing students to two and a half hours of pure hell. And it was as if the bell enjoyed every single second of it.

-x-

"Now, class," Mr. Dragmire said, sneaking a peek at his cue cards. If it weren't for them, Mr. Dragmire would've just thrown the exams out the window and sat at his desk. It was just easier to put zeros in the grade book than put a scantron through the machine (which took all of five seconds) and then grade them if it screwed up.

But then Mr. Dragmire would be out of job. He didn't have tenure, so Crazy Hand could throw the boot at him (quite literally) and tell him to go back to the Gerudo Valley.

"I'm handing out the _exam_, so any talking will warrant a zero, a punch in the face, and me Warlock Punching you out the damned window. Understood?"

No one raised any objections, not even the kid in the back who could never keep his mouth shut for more than five seconds. Then again, if _your_ name were Reiji, you'd hate the world, too.

"Reiji? Any objections?" the kid next to him whispered, his hand almost covering his mouth.

"No," Reiji replied in a firm voice. "I just want this over with so I can hate myself more."

Mr. Dragmire ended up throwing the tests at people anyway, not because they were talking, but because Mr. Dragmire looked at the exam schedule.

"I have to spend _two and a half hours_ with you insolent beasts."

No one said a word once the scantron sheets were passed out.

"Begin."

Roy turned to the first question and nearly cried.

_Who was Anri and what good did he do for Akaneia?_

Roy looked away from his test and glared at Mr. Dragmire's turned back.

_Who the hell would put questions on a test about stuff we didn't _learn_?_

Roy wasn't the only one who had no idea who Anri was. In fact, there was only one person who knew the answer out of all eighteen hundred students who attended Melee Academy.

_Dammit, Marth, I could have used your help._

-x-

Link didn't understand why he was so worried about his Hylian exam, since he was, after all, fluent in the language. It was just one of those panic moments, which Link should have been used to, since they came often.

"Wait a minute," Link muttered to himself as he reread a question, "I have no idea what the heck _that_ even means!"

Sheik looked up from his book on Hylian folklore to see what the disturbance was.

"What's wrong, Mr. Mekkai?"

Everyone was looking up from their exam and at Link; Link turned a light shade of pink and muttered something.

"Say that again?" Sheik prompted as he propped his head up with his hand.

"Err...nothing's wrong, Mr. Sheik."

Leaning back in his seat, Sheik pulled imaginary lint off his pants.

"If it's how you say, Link."

Link just guessed on the question, too busy wondering how Sheik could have his own speech patterns if he was Zelda's alter ego to really think too hard.

-x-

Even though Mr. Mario said there would be a whole section on _The Catcher in the Rye_, there were no questions on it at all. However, there _was_ a whole section on _Paradise Lost_, which they had read last semester and were forced to read again; and there was a whole section's worth of questions on _My Antonia_, which Marth read and thought was boring.

_What was the symbolism behind _Paradise Lost_? Was Lucifer portrayed as the "hero" as many people claim? Write an essay discussing the meaning behind the epic poem._

And so Marth was stuck, for he had no idea how to write an essay on the topic, at least not an eloquent essay. It wasn't like essay-writing would be useful for him - he could always have one of his advisors write a speech or a decree.

_You knew there was going to be an essay on the exam_, Marth's conscious screamed, _and you knew what the question was!_

_But I didn't think I would have to write about so much_, Marth yelled back.

_Well_, his mind contemplated, _you could have had Roy look over your essay. In fact, you could have done the essay and handed it in!_

_Oh just shut up_, Marth thought. _You're making me waste my own time._

Marth was quite used to "bullshitting" his way through essays, and the pressure was piled on enough that he could focus. He did, after all, work best under pressure. It came with the whole "I'm a prince and must write speeches" deal.

He knew his essay was going to sound like crap, anyway. Marth was rather straight-forward when it came to _speaking_. Writing was an entirely different matter. He would often sugar-coat things or play ring-around-the-rosie with his points.

Which is exactly what he did in the essay.

Well, at least he never said he was a writer. That went to Roy.

_Dammit, Roy, I could have used your help._

-x-

The rest of Roy's history exam seemed easy, at least to him. Elibe was a topic Roy knew like the back of his hand, which would make sense since he lived there his entire life.

_What was the Scouring about?_

Roy felt like laughing at Ganondorf, but he refrained from it, for fear that he'd get a zero and what would _Eliwood_ say? Roy always had perfect marks in school back home.

_The Scouring was a war between humans and Dragons, also known as the Human-Dragon Wars. It involved eight prodigiously-skilled warriors who wielded specially-made weapons that could pierce the scales on a Dragon. These weapons caused a disturbance in the Laws of Nature and created the phenomenon known as the Ending Winter, where it would be snowing in the summer, due to the amount of power the weapons created. Using these weapons, the eight warriors, known afterwards as the Eight Heroes or Eight Legends, killed off the Dragons and sent them back to their own world, thus saving Elibe._

Roy leaned back in his chair to examine his work. It sounded concise, only explaining what was relevant to the question...

_This is the last question?_ Roy thought, closing his test packet. _Aside from that section on Akaneia, I think I did pretty well._

He looked at the clock hanging on the wall behind Mr. Dragmire. Exams were almost over, at least for that period.

Looking around the classroom, many were still struggling with the first essay.

_And these are the people who claimed they knew everything about Elibe._

Roy took out his red RAZR and called Marth after excusing himself from the classroom to "use the restroom". Marth should have been long done with his exam. Roy hoped so, anyway.

-x-

"_I'm blue, da ba dee da ba die..._"

There were still a few people taking the exam; Mr. Mario looked around for the disturbance as Marth hasitly reached into his blazer's pocket.

"Roy," it said on the screen. Marth flipped the phone open.

"Erm, Mr. Mario, sir?" Marth asked, raising his hand.

"What is it, Mr. Lowell?"

Marth stood up at that moment. "I...I have to take this."

"You are well aware that you're not supposed to be taking calls during school hours, right?"

"Yes," Marth replied, "but it's my wife. It's urgent." For such a dignified monarch, Marth was a terrific liar.

Mario sighed, then gestured at the door. "Take it out into the hallway, please."

Nodding in thanks, Marth hurried out of the room and into the hallway, walking as far away from the room as possible.

"What the hell are you doing, calling me during class?" Marth whispered harshly into the phone. "People are still taking exams, you know!"

"Oh, I know," Roy replied as a toilet flushed. "Where are you, anyway?"

Marth pulled the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker phone.

"I'd like to ask the same question."

"Answer mine, first." Another toilet flushed. "I think it's obvious where I am."

Roy heard an aggravated sigh and smirked.

"You couldn't have picked an _empty_ restroom to use?"

Roy laughed. "Oh, I'm not the only one talking on the phone in here, that's why toilets are flushing. They're trying to mask it."

Marth looked at his phone with a dubious look on his face. "And I'll say it again: you couldn't have picked an _empty_ restroom to use?"

"Nope," came the answer. "This one isn't that far from my class, so it won't be too suspicious for the hall monitors."

There was silence.

"So what excuse did you use to get out of class?" Roy asked.

Marth sighed and sat down in the corner of the lavatory. "I said it was my wife calling and that it was urgent."

"Hmm, I'll have to file that away for later."

"You don't have a wife," Marth said.

"No, I don't. But I could change it so that it could be my dad instead. Or your sister."

Marth blinked and stared at his phone again. "Don't get my sister's name involved with your antics."

"Oh re_lax_, Marthy, I've never even seen your sister."

"Sure you have," Marth said pointedly. "She and I could pass as twins, really."

Roy's laugh sounded a bit distorted over the sound waves.

"So why did you call me?"

"Oh, Marthy, you _know_ why I called."

"Phone sex?" Marth raised an eyebrow. Roy was lucky he didn't have Marth on speaker.

"We can do that later. Anyway, I called to tell you that most of my history exam was on Elibe."

"Most of it?" Marth repeated. "What was the other part on?"

There was a slight pause.

"Akaneia."

"Oh," Marth breathed into the phone. "Well. Anything I might know?"

"A little late for that, but whatever," Roy replied. "It might help Link. Do you know who Anri was and what he did for Akaneia?"

It was Marth's turn to pause. "Of _course_ I do."

A scolding and an explanation later, Roy said, "All right then... Then there was this one question on it that I just had no idea."

"Like everything _else_ on your exam?"

"Mr. Lowell, is everything all right in here?"

Marth paled at the man who appeared in the doorway.

"Err, yes, Mr. Mario," Marth said into the phone, hoping Roy would get the hint to stay quiet. "I just...need a few more minutes. My wife is quite hysterical about the situation."

Marth knew that when someone put their hands on their hips, it wasn't a good sign.

"Hysterical about _what_? What's so important that you had to leave class?"

"She's pregnant," Marth blurted out. His mind was screaming at him, but Marth ignored that and focused on the man before him. "She's pregnant and quite hysterical about it. Isn't that right, honey?"

"Oh, oh yes," came the answer. Marth hoped that Roy's voice didn't crack. "Honey, I think I might be going into labour."

Marth wasn't faking surprise at all, for such a response came so unexpectedly. Mario had no idea what to say.

"I...I'll be there as soon as I can."

And with that, Marth ran out of the bathroom without any explanation, shutting his phone as he did.

-x-

"What the hell was _that_ all about?"

"I'm sorry, it was all I could think of!"

"Roy, you could have totally wrecked the lie!"

"I _know_ that, Marth, stop yelling at me!"

Marth crossed his arms and looked Roy over, his brows furrowed. "Don't you have an exam to go to?"

Roy glared. "I'd ask the same thing."

"I'm exempt," Marth replied. "I know you're not exempt from Journalism, so I suggest you go there. We'll talk about this later."

Marth was about to leave when Roy asked, "You'll...You'll still be waiting for me, right?"

Marth nodded once. "Yes. By our locker."

Marth said nothing more as he walked out, leaving Roy in the third floor new building bathroom.

-x-

"Oh great, I'm stuck here for...a crapload of time." Roy, who finished his Journalism exam quickly, looked at the clock on his cell. "Another two hours."

So Roy took out his red Nintenpod and put it on shuffle.

_Marth takes everything so...seriously. I mean, what did he _want_ me to say?_

Roy laid his head down on the desk and focused on the music instead of Marth, even though it was hard to.

_He shouldn't have lied. I wasn't even expecting him to pick up. So he says everything is _my_ fault._

_He didn't say _everything _was your fault, Roy_, his subconscious said. _He's just pissed off at you._

_Yeah, but... He should have just hung up or something._

_Oh, Roy, you know Marth never wants to get into trouble._

Roy knew it was true, of course. He knew that the day they had met.

_For once I wish he _would_ get into trouble, just so I could know for sure that he was normal._

_But you understand that he's a prince, Roy_, his subconscious said. _Therefore, he's been taught that it's not dignified to show weakness._

Roy snorted. _I wasn't aware of lying being 'dignified'._

_Well then_, his subconscious reasoned, _you now know that he has faults. Perhaps you should talk to him about this, clear the air._

"Yeah," Roy muttered. "'Clear the air', alright."

And so, to pass the time, Roy took a little nap.

-x-

_"Just who _are_ you, anyway?"_

_Link took Roy to the side, away from the seemingly distant junior._

_"Roy, don't be so hard on him," Link whispered. Roy kept his gaze focused on the boy from before._

_"I think he's so arrogant, flaunting his perfectionism everywhere, like he can do no wrong. I hate stuck-ups, and I've had to deal with enough of them in my lifetime."_

_Link sighed and grabbed Roy's shoulders so that he could focus._

_"Marth's not a...people person, all right? He has issues warming up to everyone."_

_Roy harumphed. "That's no excuse for his behaviour. He could at least be _nice_ to people. Maybe then he'd have some friends."_

_Link gave up. It was no use trying to get it through to Roy._

_"I thought you wanted to be everyone's friend, Roy. This...this isn't like you."_

_Roy unclenched his fists, not realising he had them balled up anyway._

_"I hate it when people think I'm just a 'kid'. I've led an army with sixty members and we were constantly outnumbered. My best friend was kidnapped and held hostage, her father - a close friend of my father's since they were little - died in the war, my father was ill..."_

_"Roy..."_

_Roy exhaled, like he was blowing some pent up steam out of his system. "I just...I hate being underestimated."_

_Link shoved Roy towards Marth, who was putting his things into his locker._

_"Try to make nice, okay? He's an okay guy once you get to know him."_

_Roy stopped about a yard away, looking like a deer with its eyes caught in the glow of an oncoming car's headlights._

_"I'm not appreciative of stuck-up royalty."_

_Link shoved Roy harder, causing Roy to nearly bump into the aforementioned royal._

_"Now introduce yourself, and make nice," Link said, with a tone that reminded Roy of his father. "Marth, this is Roy. Roy, this is Marth."_

_Neither one of them looked directly into the other's eyes._

_"It is..." Marth cleared his throat and clearly looked uncomfortable. It was then that Roy realised something._

_Marth wasn't stuck up at all. He was just shy._

_"It's nice to meet you," Marth said. He then looked at Link. "Is that...is that the expression one uses in English?"_

_Link nodded. "Yup." With a look to Roy, Link added, "Roy?"_

_Roy looked like he was becoming acquainted with the locker door than with the prince. "Likewise."_

_"So then shake hands and become friends, now," Link urged, taking Marth's and Roy's wrists and clasped their hands together._

_"Link, it's not proper for someone like us to touch a royal without permi--"_

_"Oh please, Roy," the Hero of Time cut in. "Titles are meaningless here. Royals, nobles, commoners... Pfft. Deep down inside we're all people, right? So who cares!"_

_Marth stared at the floor still, obviously unsure of what to do or say next._

_"I'm sorry about before," Marth said at last. "I'm not used to talking with people outside of...my home, you see."_

_"Socially stunted?" Roy said in his usual frank way of speaking._

_"Y-Yes," Marth replied, surprised. "I guess you could...say that."_

_Roy removed his hand from Marth's and dismissed Marth's reply with a wave._

_"I understand. If you had told me that before, I wouldn't have...blown up at you like that. I'm sorry, Your Highness."_

_Marth ran a hand through his hair, his face a slight pinkish hue. "Please...just call me Marth. There's no need to be so...formal."_

_"Right then," Roy replied. "Marth it is."_

_Roy..._

"Roy! Gods, Roy, wake _up_!"

Roy, who could barely hear anything through his headphones, slumbered away as Marth and Link tried to wake him.

"Think he's dead?" Link asked, poking Roy on the shoulder with the sharp end of a pencil.

"No." Marth pulled one of the earpieces out of Roy's ear. "He just can't _hear_ us. Roy, _wake up_!"

But Roy did not stir. He merely slept on, unaware of Marth and Link even _being there_.

Marth let out a defeated sigh. "You can take his things, Link. I'll take him."

Link grabbed Roy's Nintenpod and supplies, and then did a double-take.

"Wait, shouldn't _I_ take Roy? He's kind of...heavy."

Marth shot Link a glare, his eyes narrowing just a bit. "What, do you think I'm incapable of carrying him? He doesn't weigh much."

"N-No, that's not what I meant!" Link held up his arms in a defensive sort of way. "I only meant--"

"Just because I'm a prince and you think I look delicate, doesn't mean I _am_ delicate. I am a swordsman--"

"Marth, I didn't mean any offence by it! Calm the heck down!"

Marth said nothing more, just clenched his jaw shut and walked out the door, Roy gathered in his arms. Marth looked even more regal with his jaw set, Link noticed.

_Must be a royal thing_, Link surmised, _because Zellie does the same thing when she's mad_.

-x-

"Poor Red," Link said as they walked down the front steps of the school. "Exams must've tired him out. Who can blame him, though? I was about to stab myself with my pencil during my Algebra exam..."

Marth said nothing, ignoring the whispered comments and the questioning glances of onlookers as he and Link walked on home.

"Sure you don't want me to take him for a while?"

"I'm certain," Marth answered, shifting Roy slightly. "Roy only weighs somewhere around a hundred and fifteen pounds. I can handle it."

Link knew that whenever Marth spoke so eloquently, Marth was pissed off at something, usually him. Marth normally didn't speak so frank.

"Just thought I'd ask again," Link mumbled as he undid his tie and undid the top three buttons on his shirt.

Marth, picking up on how hurt Link was, added, "Thank you for asking, though."

"Sure, sure," Link said, waving the comment away. "Whatever," he muttered.

They crossed the street and continued walking, ignoring the beautiful day and the continued stares at them.

"Everything all right between you two?" Link asked, referring to Marth and Roy's relationship. Marth cocked his head to the side slightly, a quirk Link hadn't seen in a long time.

"We had a miniature argument in the bathroom today."

"About something stupid?"

Silence.

"I'm taking that to mean 'yes'," Link assumed. "Thank Din Zellie and I don't have that problem."

"Not yet." Marth shifted Roy again; his arms were beginning to get a little tired, and they still had two blocks to go. "But Roy and I sort everything out afterwards. The arguments may be stupid, yes, but...they spark a dialogue. They make us talk about it, resolve it."

They crossed over to the left side of the street; Marth, for some reason, hated walking home on the right side.

"But arguing that much isn't healthy," Link said, admiring the blooms on bushes and the birds singing from their perch in a tree.

"Neither is not arguing at all."

"Well," Link contemplated, "I guess you're right. A little arguing here and there is good..."

"_You spin me right 'round baby, right 'round like a record..._"

Marth said, "'You Spin Me 'Round'?" just as Link said, "Hello?"

Neither of them said anything to each other; Marth admired the scenery of the approaching summer, and Link said "uh huh," or "I see," or "I understand" every now and then.

"I'm not really sure, Zellie... I'll try to--if you'd just calm down and _listen_... Zelda, I tried my best, I did, but I couldn't... Yes, of _course_ I remembered! Yes, it's June tenth today...your birthday!"

Link sighed and rolled his eyes. "I told Peach already, yes. She knows. Vanilla frosting, coloured pink... Angel cake, yes... I _did_ get you a gift and--"

Marth and Link rounded the corner; the Manse was still another block away.

"Look, I'm about a block away from the Manse. We can talk about this more there, okay? Yeah, I love you too, Zellie." He hung up and put the cell phone back in its case on his belt.

"Zelda's birthday party's _today_?" Marth asked, stopping at the corner of Beech and Elm.

"Yeah," Link replied. "Why?"

"...Well, last year, Zelda and I shared a party, since her birthday's on the tenth and mine's on the eleventh..."

"Yeah, but Zelda wants everything _pink_, so I doubt you'd like that too much. I'm sure Roy's planning something special for you, anyway."

Eventually, they made it to the Manse; Marth could barely feel his arms, and he developed a headache shortly after coming home due to Zelda and Link's bickering.

-x-

"Marth?"

Roy looked around the room he and Marth shared, but saw no signs of his boyfriend anywhere.

"Guess he's downstairs." Roy looked at the clock on his bedside table and saw that it was almost dinnertime.

"Hey, Roy!" Link, who still didn't understand the fact that he needed to knock before entering, walked into the room. "Glad to see you're finally awake. You slept like a rock, you know."

Roy stifled a yawn and sat up. "Ugh, I need to change. I'm still in my school stuff."

Link snickered and toyed with the ends of his green bandana. "You could've changed as soon as you came home if you weren't--"

"Sleeping, I know. I just didn't get a lot of sleep the night before."

Link, who was unintentionally nosy most of the time, wondered about this. "Oh?"

"Yeah," Roy said, rummaging through his dresser drawers in search of a t-shirt. "Last minute studying and such."

"I see." Link didn't buy that for a minute. "So how're things between you and Marthy?"

Roy had found a clean shirt and thrust his arms through the arm holes; he paused just before he put it over his head.

"Fine, I guess."

Link sat himself down on the edge of Roy's bed. "'S not what Marth told me on the way home."

Putting the shirt over his head, he pulled down on the hem of it so it was on all the way. "He told you we had another fight?"

Link thought back to the conversation. "He used the term 'argument', but 'fight' works, too."

"Did he send you up here to give me a message or something?" Roy was now putting on a pair of jeans, his uniform pants thrown haphazardly on the floor next to his bed.

"Oh yeah, he did," Link said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"What'd he say?"

"He wants to talk about what happened in the bathroom today - I guess that's where you fought? - after dinner."

"But isn't Zelda's party after dinner?" Roy asked, brushing his fingers through his hair so it didn't look as messy.

"Well, not directly after. Her party's the dessert."

Roy deemed himself presentable and crossed the room to the door. "C'mon, let's go down to eat. I'm starving since I missed lunch."

Link bounced onto his feet and joined Roy in the doorway. "You weren't really missing much. Marth actually retreated to the library to get away from downstairs."

"Why?" Roy asked as they left the room and went down the stairs to the main floor.

"Oh, well... Zellie and I had a little...fight."

"'Fight' would be an understatement," a voice in the kitchen yelled. "More like 'cat fight'."

Link and Roy entered the kitchen to see Marth sitting at the table, his arm hanging over the back of the chair, his legs crossed at the knees.

"You look all sweaty and gross," Link said, making sure to sit across from Marth instead of next to him, like he usually did.

"Well yes, I probably am sweaty. The practise arena is hot as hell."

"Fencing?" Roy asked, pulling his chair out from under the table. He sat down next to Marth and gestured to Marth's practise clothes.

"Yes. More to get away from the bickering than to really practise."

Link looked around the brightly lit kitchen, surprised no one else was around.

"Everyone's preparing for Zelda's party by taking her out to dinner. I was busy fencing, Roy was busy sleeping, and you... I don't know what you were doing."

Link pointed to the living room. "I was watching Pastel School Boys on the TV. Guess I didn't hear the announcement."

"So we're fending for ourselves tonight?" Roy asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Yes," Marth replied. "Anyone know how to cook?"

"If you wanna have the kitchen burned down, I'll cook...something," Link said. "Not guaranteed it'll be edible or anything."

"What about you, Roy?" Marth asked, turning to the red head beside him.

"I don't know anything about cooking."

Marth sighed and got up from his chair. "Then I guess I'll have to." He headed towards the fridge.

"Can you even _cook_?" Roy asked, and Link nodded in agreement.

"I know enough not to set the place on fire and make something edible."

"Yeah, but just because it's _edible_, doesn't mean it won't stink," Link said, getting up from his chair. "There's gotta be _something_ that Peach left us to eat..."

"We could get take-out," Roy suggested, standing up from his chair. "I think Peach has a Chinese restaurant menu around here somewhere..." Roy scrounged around the kitchen for said menu.

"Oh please," Marth said, crossing his arms. "I can probably cook better than both of you. Or any of the things you suggested."

Link poked his head out from behind the pantry wall and gave him an "I hope you're kidding" look.

"Tol'ya he has a sense of humour," Roy said, looking through the menu. "I say we get a thing of white rice, a thing of pork fried rice, sausage with peppers and onions, chicken with broccoli...and a large thing of spare ribs."

"Don't forget the eggrolls," Link added. "And the shrimp chow mein."

Roy wrote everything down on a pad of paper by the phone.

"That's great and all, but I _can't eat meat_."

"Then just eat rice," Link said. "That's what they do in Asia all the time."

"We're not trying to _starve_ him, Link," Roy cut in. "Don't worry, I got it handled."

"So who's calling?" Link asked. "Certainly not me. I can't talk to people on the phone, especially take-out places. I get too nervous that I'll mess the order up."

"Okay...," Roy said as he calculated the cost. "Since I'm the one who suggested it and added everything up, I should be exempt. Besides, I called last time."

"That leaves you, Marthy!" Link said happily.

Marth crossed his arms. "Why do _I_ have to call?"

"Okay, okay, let's have it this way: we'll play Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine it," Roy said. "It's only fair."

Link nodded enthusiastically and Marth just sighed.

"Put your hands right here... Okay. Rock!"

"Paper!" Link shouted.

"...Scissors," Marth said, not really wanting to partake in such a juvenile game.

"Shoot!"

A few minutes later and forty matches of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" done, they still had no clear winner.

Roy let out a sigh of frustration. "All right, I've got a better idea. Whoever has the most money on them has to not only call, but they have to pay, too."

"Fine with me!" Link said. Marth said nothing.

Roy pulled out his wallet and opened it. "I've got five dollars on me."

Link turned his pockets inside out. A ball of lint, a pack of gum, and some cough drops fell onto the floor. Link then did the same thing with his back pockets.

"I've got thirty cents," Link said, placing three dimes onto the table. "I spent a small fortune yesterday on some manga. That's all I got left."

All eyes were on Marth then. Taking out his wallet, he opened it and then immediately closed it.

"I guess Marth's paying," Roy said.

"Don't forget he's calling, too," Link added, putting his thirty cents and all his other garbage back into his pockets.

"Right... Of course I am," Marth said.

"So how much, Marthy?" Link asked. "Just for curiosity's sake."

"More than enough," Marth replied as he fished around in his pocket for his cell phone. "Give me the order, and I'll be right back."

Roy handed Marth the list; Marth went into the other room, his thumb punching in the number for Chinese.

"He has to go into the other _room_ to make a phone call?" Link whispered, sitting on the table now.

"He doesn't like eavesdropping, _and_ it's only polite to step out and use the phone when you've got others around."

"But it's only Chinese, not some drug overlord or a hooker or anything!"

"Even so, it's only polite," Roy reasoned.

"And he didn't want to tell us how much money he had."

"'Cause that's none of our business, really."

"'More than enough' is a rather vague answer, don't you think, Red?"

"I don't see why you need to know about Marth's finances, Link."

There would have been silence, but since Marth's voice carried into the kitchen, it wasn't completely quiet.

"Forty bucks?" Link whispered. "Is that without the tip?"

Roy shrugged. "Probably."

"Maybe we should go thirds."

Roy snorted. "Yeah, because your thirty cents there is _real_ helpful. It wouldn't even be _thirds_."

"It'd be _something_, man."

"So let's say we _did_ split it. With our money combined, it'd only be five dollars and thirty cents. That leaves thirty four dollars and seventy cents. Without tip."

"Well," Link said, trying to come up with a good reason. "Well, our money could cover the tip, whereas he pays the actual thing."

"_Who_ pays for the actual thing?" Marth took that moment to walk in, phone in one hand, list in the other.

"Well Marth, of course."

Link took a double-take then. "Oh crap."

"I'll pay for the tip," Roy offered, waving his five dollar bill in the air. "I think that should cover it."

"Add in my thirty cents," Link said.

"As if that really makes much of a difference."

"Well, Roy, it _could_. Then you can't also say that I didn't do anything."

"You're making it sound like I have monetary problems," Marth cut in. "I can pay for the whole thing. Honest. That was the deal, right? 'Whoever had the most money had to call and pay.'"

"But M_ar_th, the thing is forty bucks!" Link said, crawling across the table to a somewhat perturbed Marth.

Marth smirked from his place in the doorway and waved a fifty dollar bill in the air, holding it between his first and middle fingers. "I think this should cover the meal and the tip."

Roy calculated what the actual tip would cost. "Marth, the actual tip should be four bucks, if you're taking ten percent. You're taking twenty five percent here."

"And this is why I didn't want you to actually know how much the bill was."

"Kinda hard since your voice carries."

Link nodded. "Yeah, when Roy and I stopped talking, we could hear you quite clearly."

"Well, I don't have anything smaller than this, so it's not like I can exchange it. With either of you."

Roy gave him a look that Marth didn't quite understand.

"You mean you have something _bigger_ than a fifty?"

Marth laughed once. "I'd tell you, but Link's in the room."

"Oh geez, you _do_ have something bigger than a fifty."

Link's gaze went from Marth to Roy and then to Marth again.

"How long is it gonna take for the food to get here? I'm starving."

Marth shrugged. "Half hour."

Link nearly fell off of the table. "We should've picked it up."

"Oh, and by the way...Link, you're owing me money for this. Your third."

This time, Link really did fall off the table.

"Hey, that wasn't in the agreement!"

Marth cocked his head to the side. "It was your idea, so I'm taking it."

"Make Roy pay, too."

"Leave me out of this!" Roy protested as he leaned the chair onto its back legs.

"Roy's making it up to me in another way," Marth answered. "He's taking me out to dinner tomorrow for my birthday, wherever I want to go. _Right_, Roy?" Marth shot Roy a look that said, "Say yes or I will murder you in your sleep."

"Oh yeah, certainly. Even though I have absolutely no money to even afford Burger King."

"Good," Marth said, satisfied. "You can talk to your father about that."

Roy was going to protest when the door bell rang.

"FOOD!" Link said, and ran to the door.

"Link, wait a second!" Marth yelled, running after him. "You need to _pay_ the guy!"

There was a crash, which Roy ignored. Link was a known klutz; his falling wasn't surprising in the least.

"The guy on the phone said it was forty dollars _without_ the tip."

Roy didn't hear what the delivery guy said, but he almost concussed himself at Marth's reply.

Regardless, Marth came back into the kitchen with Link practically nipping at his heels, a brown bag in his hands.

"You're taking me to the most expensive restaurant I can find tomorrow," Marth said, directing his statement at Roy.

"Why?" Roy asked as he got up from his place on the floor.

"Because the guy on the phone said the wrong price and I almost didn't have enough money to pay." Marth unloaded all of the food and set it on the table. "Link, make yourself useful and get us some plates."

-x-

"I. can't. pick. this. _up_!" Try as Link might, he was unable to pick anything up with the provided chopsticks.

"Then get a fork and eat that way," Marth said. "No one said there was a law where you have to eat with chopsticks."

Roy mixed everything together on his plate while Link stabbed into his chicken with one chopstick.

"Aha! I have smote thee, chicken!"

Marth, quite used to Link's random outbursts, ignored him and continued eating. Roy shoveled most of his white rice into his mouth and nearly choked.

"You know, I'd expect bad table manners from Link, but from _you_?"

Roy poked Marth with his chopsticks. "I haven't had _lunch_, Marthy. I could eat this kitchen table."

"Hey, Roy, don't hog all of the ribs!" Link said, taking one from Roy's plate and ripped a strip of meat off of it.

"I ordered 'em for _me_, not for _you_," Roy replied. "And use a napkin, Link. The ribs are good, but you shouldn't lick your fingers, too."

_I'm eating with an animal_, Marth thought. "I wonder when the others'll be back...?"

"Probably not for a while," Roy answered. "It's not dessert time yet. Have you seen the yard? It's all set up and everything."

Link nodded enthusiastically. "And _I_ made that all possible, thank you very much."

Just then, a ruckus could be heard from the yard.

"Guess they're back," Roy commented after swallowing a piece of rib meat.

"Yeah. Guess we should get outside," Link said, standing up.

"Not like _that_ you aren't," Marth scolded. "Clean up and put something decent on."

"But I _am_ decent."

"A Spongebob t-shirt and holey denim shorts are _not_ classy for a party, Link."

"And your practise wear _is_?" Link crossed his arms.

"I'm going upstairs to _change_."

"I don't think I have room for cake, so I might not even show."

Roy nearly choked on a piece of broccoli. "But she's your _girlfriend_, Link."

"I wanted to take her out for a nice, quiet dinner and then take her to the beach, but _nooo_, she insisted I make a party for her, and then she was bitching me out about it on the way home! If she's going to be like that, then I'm not gonna bother."

Link glanced at the wall-clock. "My Korean soaps are almost on, anyway, and I can't miss it. Sua's gone to Paris, and I wanna know what her currently-in-jail boyfriend thinks about it."

On that note, Link pranced out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Roy, if you ever did something like that to me, I'd never want to see your face again," Marth said. He took Roy by the arm and led him out of the kitchen and to their bedroom.

"But I wouldn't do something like that," Roy answered when Marth shut the door. "That's just...rude."

Marth opened the closet near the room entrance and browsed amidst the clothing on hangers.

"You sure you don't want a party?"

Marth took a simple, but elegant dress shirt off of a hanger, modeled it on himself in the mirror on the door, and then pulled his worn t-shirt off.

"Oh yes, I'm sure I _definitely_ don't want a party. How's this look?"

Roy pointed his index finger towards the floor and made a circle with it. Marth turned around so Roy could see it from the back.

"Well, _I_ like it."

"Does it make my ass look big?"

Roy said nothing.

"...Sorry, I always wanted to ask that."

"It looks fine, Marth."

Marth closed the closet and walked over to his dresser to look for more appropriate pants.

A few minutes and three different pants later, Marth deemed himself "decent".

Roy thought girls took less time to get ready than Marth.

-x-

"Okay, I'm officially tired. And we have exams tomorrow."

Marth flopped onto his bed, and Roy almost missed the bed completely.

"Well Marthy, it's only nine..." Roy traced invisible designs onto Marth's chest. "We have time, don't we?"

"Not sure I could stay...awake," Marth said as he tried to stifle a yawn.

"I'll make you stay awake. Now c'mon, let's do it." Roy reached over the side of the bed whilst Marth unbuttoned the first few buttons on his shirt.

"All right, test me on this." Roy threw a packet of paper at his boyfriend, which almost hit Marth in the face.

"Shakespeare?"

"Yep."

"This is on your exam, isn't it," Marth rhetorically asked as he looked through the packet.

"Yep once again."

"All right, let's see if I don't get bored half to death quizzing you."

Link, who was walking by the room, only heard the conversation _before_ Shakespeare was mentioned.

_Oh, I _knew_ Marth and Roy were doing it. I shouldn't listen, but..._

"April 23th."

"Yes, Roy, that's right. Well, according to the sheet, anyway."

Link decided he didn't want to know what was going on in the bedroom and instead walked away as fast as he could.


	13. Chapter 13

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Thirteen-**

"R-Roy..."

Marth was silenced by another one of Roy's kisses, a soft moan escaped from Marth's throat as Roy decided to tease Marth with a little tongue here and there.

"Happy–birthday,–Marth," Roy said, punctuating every word with a brush against Marth's lips, his breath tickling Marth's face. He pushed Marth onto his back and climbed on top of him, his legs straddling Marth's waist, their lips preoccupied once again. Marth pressed into Roy, his one hand traipsing up the white wife-beater Roy slept in, the other pulling at the back of Roy's thigh.

"Mmm... Marthy," Roy said, repositioning his body so he was now completely on top of Marth, his head on his shoulder. The bed creaked whenever either of them moved, probably due to the abuse the bedframe had to endure from the couple night after night.

"What?" Marth murmured sleepily.

"I love you," came the reply, and Roy kissed Marth's jawline, a sigh of contentment releasing from his throat.

"Love you, too," Marth stated, and kissed Roy's forehead; his arms wrapped around Roy's midsection, his fingers lazily tracing invisible designs into the small of his back.

A ray of sunlight came through the barrier the blinds and curtain provided, highlighting Roy's hair - making it more noticeable in the otherwise dark expanse of their room - and Marth's cheek.

"Think we should get up?" Roy wondered, his voice partially muffled by Marth's neck. "It's almost five... No sense going to sleep for two more hours."

Marth said nothing, and when Roy made to break the embrace, Marth protested and instead held Roy closer.

"Stay like this," Marth said softly. "You're warm...and it feels...nice."

Roy shifted so he was more comfortable, and neither of them left the embrace for the rest of the night.

"Though I wish you would've waited until we'd woken up for school," Marth added as an afterthought. Roy didn't hear it - he immediately fell back to sleep.

-x-

"Good morni--" Link looked at the still-slumbering teens and put his hands on his hips. Marth, sleep in? No, definitely not.

_Though after what happened last night_, Link thought, _I don't blame him for being so tired_.

Because Shakespeare was just that boring, reasoned Link - who left before all of that came to light - and thought Marth and Roy threw it down, and were thus exhausted from other more interesting activities.

"Hey guys," Link said as he crossed over to their bed, "it's time to wake _up_." Link pulled the sheets off the sleeping couple and dropped them onto the blue-carpeted room.

Marth would have pulled the sheets up over his head, but the sheets weren't covering him and he didn't feel like retrieving them. Roy noticed the cold morning air on his backside and awoke immediately, unaware of Link's form towering over their bed.

Roy turned over and fell off of Marth; stretching, he rubbed his eyes and sat up. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he realised why it was so cold.

"_Link_, how many times have I told you to _knock_?"

"Thirty seven," Link replied without hesitation. "That's not counting Marth. It would be well over a hundred then."

Roy swung his legs over the side of the bed and went about his morning ritual of getting ready for school.

"Kokiri Forest doesn't have doors, and I wasn't ever taught to knock on anything before entering, so..."

"But Link," Roy said, "this place has _doors_ and you need to learn to knock before entering. Don't do the whole 'knock while entering' thing, either, because that's even _worse_." Roy only knew one person who "knocked while entering", and said person only did it when he was sure nothing sexual was going on.

So Link just stood there in the middle of the room and watched Roy change. "It's nothing _I_ haven't seen before."

Roy looked at him, horrified.

"I'm a guy, too!" Link added hastily. "I have male appendages, too, even though I'm sure you and Marth forget that at times."

Roy said nothing as he hoisted his shirt - already half-buttoned - over his head.

"Isn't Marth supposed to be getting up just about now?" The Hero of Time gestured to the oblivious prince occupying the bed.

"He's exempt from the rest of his exams, Link." Roy was busy trying to figure out how to not choke himself with his tie. "He doesn't have to show up."

Link, who wasn't even caring about his uniform and how many out of uniform slips he'd get, threw his tie at Roy's head. It fell a few feet short and landed on the blue coloured sheets instead. Roy looked down at it and stared.

"If that was supposed to hit me," Roy began, "then you failed. Utterly." Roy created another loop, which finished the knot, and it was tightened, finishing the tie.

"All right, let's go," Link said when Roy was done with everything. "Don't want Peach getting on our case."

Link exited the room, leaving his tie on the floor still. Roy bent over his sleeping boyfriend and kissed his forehead.

"See you," he whispered, grabbed his bookbag from next to his computer desk, and zipped out of the door.

Marth did nothing except turn over. Apparently being awoken at almost-five in the morning was bad for Marth's sleeping habits.

-x-

"Okay, so what else was on the history exam?" Link asked Roy, shifting from one foot to the other and back again in a nervous state. "I must know or I'll be a failure at history!"

Roy slammed the locker door shut and locked it, third and fourth period books under his arm.

"I have Ganondorf for history, so the exam's probably different."

Link latched onto Roy's leg and pulled on his blazer. "I don't _care_! I'm desperate! Please _help me_!"

Roy sighed and had no choice but to try to help Link as best as he could.

"Did you study Akaneia yet?" Roy asked as he tried to pry Link off his leg. He failed at the attempt and was tempted to smack him over the head with his Algebra book.

Link released his hold on Roy's right leg and sat down right smack dab in the middle of the hallway.

"I don't remember."

Roy banged his head against the locker, wanting to wake up from his nightmare. "That doesn't _help_, Link."

"I know it doesn't!" Link said, frantic now. "I just wanna go _hooome_."

Roy stared at him, thinking Link had finally snapped from the pressure.

"Wait," Link said, seeming to abruptly stop his panic attack, "was Akaneia the place Marth came from?"

Roy was about to concuss himself. "_Yes_, Link, it _is_."

"Then yeah, we learned about it. Not much, though...we spent a lot of time on Mushroom Kingdom and sort of ran out of time."

Roy adjusted the ID clipped to his chest pocket and said, "Then I _really_ can't help you."

Roy yelped when Link nearly pulled his pants off. "Okay, okay, what do you want to know about Akaneia?"

"Anything!" Link begged, his body almost on Roy's lap. "Anything would be better than me failing miserably with a zero!"

Roy pushed Link off of him and adjusted his pants. "All right, all right, all right. The exam I took had a lot of questions on Anri and how awesome he was, plus one or two mentionings of that war Marth fought in."

Link nodded his head emphatically, but stopped when he heard the last part. "Wait a sec."

"What _now_?" Roy asked, looking down at the sprawled-out-on-the-floor Hero of Time.

"Marth fought in a war?"

Roy immediately turned and headed towards the hallway connecting new building with old, Link crawling on hands and knees after him, all the while yelling, "Wait, Roy! Waaait!"

_I think I just lost some braincells_, was all Roy could think of.

-x-

"Here, you can have this dreaded book back." Link let go of the book and winced when it connected with the faux-wooden surface of Mr. Luigi P. Mario's desk. Mr. L. Mario nearly jumped out of his skin and through the ceiling, along with several other students.

"But history is a wonderful thing!" Luigi argued. "Especially history about the Mushroom Kingdom... There were questions on it, remember?"

"I'm trying to forget," Link replied as he turned to go back to his seat. "There were too many."

There was about ten minutes of silence before an announcement broke it like a shattered windowpane falling to the floor.

"Will Link Mekkai report to the main office? I repeat, will Link Mekkai report to the main office?"

If it weren't the middle of an exam, everyone would have "ooohed!" and made remarks about what Link did _this_ time to get in trouble. Instead, Link was greeted by silence. Grabbing his English book off the floor and his pencil off the desk, he tripped out of the room and up the stairs to the third floor. Walking a few feet from the door, he waltzed into the main office, placed his stuff on the counter, and waited for the receptionist to acknowledge his existence.

"Ah, Link, it's been a while." Emmy was the only female wireframe who actually had a name, and that was because she was Master Hand's favourite creation. She fell into her office chair and sorted some papers on her desk before giving Link her full attention.

"I've been a good boy," Link replied, giving her a suave little smile. Link was possibly _the_ biggest flirt in Melee Academy, for he flirted with all of the female staff. Roy always compared him to some man named Sain, who was a friend of Roy's father; Link didn't really care about the comparisons to other flirts, for he thought they were compliments.

"Until now," Emmy said, opening her filing cabinet drawer and pulled out a folder. "This is your...forty-seventh out of uniform slip, Link. You're always forgetting your tie." She placed a form on the counter, along with a pen. "You know the drill... Fill it out and hand it to me when you're done."

Link grabbed the pen - glad that it wasn't one of those uni-ball ones, for they smudged or didn't work well - and filled out the form in under a minute. He had encountered this form at least once a week, and knew every question asked on it.

"I'll need a parent or guardian to sign this slip for you... Hand it in tomorrow, all right?" Emmy took the finished form and filed it away in Link's folder.

"You don't mind if I get Zel--Ms. Harkinian to sign this, do you? I don't have a parent or a guardian."

Emmy shrugged. "As long as it gets signed, I don't think it really matters. Except that it has to be someone eighteen or older."

"Crap," Link muttered. Zelda had only turned seventeen, so she _still_ couldn't sign for him. _Who the heck do I know who's eighteen_?

Link, who didn't have his five cans of caffeinated beverages for breakfast, wasn't thinking clearly. If he was, he would've thought of a solution to his problems, an answer to his unspoken prayer. His solution had blue hair, was around 5'8", and was of royal status.

And his name was literally all over the school due to the amount of awards he'd won.

_This school _always _has to make things difficult for me._

Never mind the fact that Marth, who would be nineteen by the end of the day, signed all of his _other_ out of uniform slips. This was because Marth was eighteen. The solution to Link's problem.

Link waved goodbye to Emmy and left the main office, passed by a sign that announced recent scholarships (of which Marth was one of them), and went back to his history class, still pondering the answer to his problem.

-x-

"Roy, do you know anyone eighteen or older?" The once-again-frantic Hero of Time slid open the door of their English class, ran through the doorway, and nearly landed right in Roy's lap.

Roy gave him an "are you retarded?" look and said, "_Yes_."

Jumping into his seat, Link grabbed Roy's shirt collar and shook him. "Who is it?"

Roy grabbed Link's wrists and pulled away, his head spinning and his body slightly disoriented. "Link, I knew you were a bit naive and a little on the dense side because of it, but this is ridiculous."

Link cocked his head to the side, his hands grabbing Roy's legs now. "Just tell me!"

If Link got any closer, his face would be inches from Roy's.

The position did not look right, if you looked at them from another student's point of view. Whispers about Link's sexuality were passed around the room like a game of "telephone", and rumours of Roy cheating on Marth were bound to be around the school in about five minutes through texting. Link stared intently into Roy's eyes and his grip tightened, fingernails digging into Roy's skin. Roy was backed up into the wall and ready to climb up it.

"Um, _hello_, is your brain working?" Roy yelled.

"No, not really," Link admitted. "I didn't have my Mountain Dew this morning."

Roy was ready to headbutt Link. "_Marth_ is eighteen, and by the end of today, he'll be nineteen."

Link pulled away and pressed a finger to his lips in thought. Roy took in a huge gulp of air and slid down his seat, relieved that Link was off him.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because your brain isn't working correctly," Roy replied. "And _must_ you practically sit on top of me when you ask me something?"

"If it gets you to answer me, then yes."

Roy became quite flustered. "Funny you don't do that when Marth's around."

Once again, Link leaned in to Roy's personal space. "Maybe I have a thing for you. Who knows?"

Roy nearly _died_.

"In any case, Marth would kill me."

Roy slowly nodded his head. "Yes. Yes he would. He would maim you horribly with Falchion."

Link drummed his fingers against his chin as he pulled away from Roy again, a creepy looking grin on his face. "I've never kissed a guy before."

Roy had no idea what to say, and was shocked speechless by Link's next action.

_I don't know who Marth's gonna kill first: Link or me_.

There was no way Roy could focus on his English final after _that_.

-x-

"Oh c'mon, it was only a little kiss!"

"Just a _little_, one, huh?" Roy argued. "Then why was there _tongue_?"

Link shrugged. "I felt like being fancy."

Roy clenched his fists and got into Link's face. "_You felt like being fancy_?! Link! I'm happily committed to Marth! You are not _Marth_. And you! You're supposed to be with Zelda! What would she think if she heard?"

Link twirled a strand of blond hair around his finger.

"I dunno," he said quietly. "I don't know."

Roy crossed his arms and exhaled forcefully, his head turned away from Link.

"Are you telling me you're _gay_?"

Link threw up his arms, his gaze towards the sky. "I don't know! Why don't you tell _me_?"

The campus was nearly empty, everyone fleeing the area before a fire started, and Link would be the one burned.

"Did you..." Roy could barely speak now, whether it was from anger or embarrassment, he couldn't tell. "Did you _like_ it?"

"Like what?"

"The _kiss_, dumbass. Did you like the _kiss_?"

Link shrugged again. "...Better than Zelda."

Roy sighed. He just wanted to crawl into a hole and die right then.

"You and Marth kissed for a while before you and him decided to...become a couple, didn't you?"

Roy, who was about to walk home, immediately turned back around. "You're not saying that..."

Link inhaled and held it for a bit before exhaling quickly. "I... Well, it depends on what you _think_ I'm saying."

"...You're not saying that you..._like_ me, are you?"

Link averted his eyes; Roy's gaze was so intense that Link thought his eyes would burn if he looked any longer.

"Dammit, you _do_." Roy sounded less angry and more upset. "Oh, _Link_, tell me you _do_ so at least I _know_."

Link still said nothing.

"I..." Roy opened and closed his mouth several times, thinking over his words carefully, while looking like a fish in the meantime. He swallowed the lump in his throat and turned around so he was facing the street, away from Link. "I have to tell Marth what you did. And you have to tell Zelda."

Link made to say something, but Roy cut him off.

"Marth won't be too angry with me, since it wasn't my fault... But I can't say the same for you with Zelda."

"Roy, I..." What to say, what _could_ he say? "...I'm sorry. I..."

Roy's chuckle was coated with an edge of bittersweet. "At least I'll know who to blame if my relationship is ruined."

And with that, Roy walked away, unable to deal with the situation any longer, lest he lose any valuable time. Link reached out for Roy's shoulder, to try to get him to turn around and talk to him more, to tell him more about the situation; his arm fell to his side instead and he shivered.

_My life completely sucks right now_, Link thought. _Not only could I possibly ruin two relationships - mine and Roy's - but I've probably ruined my friendship, too._

-x-

Marth was nearly scared half to death when the door of his room was suddenly thrown open. Grabbing Falchion's sheath from the nook between his bed and the night-table, he was half-way through with unsheathing it when he saw Roy standing there in the doorway.

"Roy?" said Marth, sliding the blade back into the metal scabbard. "You look distraught. When did you get back--"

Marth got off his bed and walked closer to Roy for a better look. Roy's hair was wet and matted down against his forehead, his cheeks, the side of his face, and his clothes were soaked.

"Marth..." Roy's voice was unsteady, though he tried so hard to keep it as calm-sounding as he could. He sniffled and wiped his eyes with his wet sleeve.

Marth closed the door at once behind him, took Roy by the shoulders, and steered Roy onto his bed, sitting him down at the edge.

"What happened." It was an order to tell, not a question. Marth went into the bathroom for a split second to get a towel and draped it over the shivering boy's shoulders. "Tell me what happened."

The mattress sunk a bit as it held the new weight, and Marth took the end of the towel so he could dry off Roy's face.

"...Something happened."

Marth took a good look at his boyfriend and saw tears streaking his face. "I surmised as much. I want to know _what_ happened."

Roy sniffled again and told Marth what had happened in English class, about the awkwardness that permeated the classroom, about the rumours that were probably going around the school, and the argument that happened on the campus. Marth listened intently and Roy choked, unable to say anything more.

"Roy," Marth said, his voice soft. "Just calm down, all right? Nothing bad is going to happen to us." To prove his point, Marth took Roy and pressed against him for warmth; he pressed his forehead against Roy's cheek, something he always did so Roy would listen to him.

"B-But he..."

"He did," Marth finished for him, "but that's just it - _he_ did it, not you. You have nothing to be guilty about. Everything's all right, Roy..."

There was a thick silence in the air, broken only by the hum of Roy's computer and the muted voices from the floor below.

"No, it's not." Roy's voice was muffled against the fabric of Marth's shirt as they sat on the edge of his bed. "It's not okay. This totally ruins your birthday, this will probably be the end of 'us', and...I don't think I could look at Link the same way again."

Marth kissed Roy's forehead once, twice, three times, and held Roy closer to him. "It's not going to ruin 'us', Roy. If anything, it ruined Link and Zelda's relationship."

Marth moved Roy so he was at arms-length, his hands still on his shoulders. "Roy, look at me."

Roy sniffled and did so; Marth's eyes were not full of anger, but of concern, of love.

"I love you more than anything else in the world, Roy. Nothing is going to change that. Yes, I'm not happy that Link kissed you, but that wasn't _your_ fault, you expressed your dislike for it, and you made sure it didn't happen again."

Roy's hands were limp in his lap and he bit his lip, unsure of what to say. His eyes, however, held another story entirely, and asked the question Roy didn't know he sought the answer for.

"I'm not angry," Marth continued, pulling Roy a little closer now. "I'm not angry at _you_, but at Link. It wasn't your doing, all right? Everything's going to be okay." He pressed Roy's face to his chest, and Roy grabbed onto Marth's shirt like a drowning man clinging to a rock in the current, his body shaking with sobs.

Marth pressed his fingertips under Roy's chin, directing the sixteen year old to look at him. When Roy did so, and after he calmed down, Marth kissed Roy with so much passion, Roy wasn't even sure why he doubted Marth loving him.

"I'm going to talk to Link about it," Marth said when they pulled away.

"If I hear the crunching of dry-wall, I'll know it was Link being thrown through the wall."

Marth sighed. "Is that what he thinks I'm going to do to him?"

Roy shrugged, the mood lightening slightly. "He knows you'd kill him if he was caught."

Marth ruffled Roy's still-wet hair. "Go take a bath or something to warm up. I'm going to let off some steam down in the arena."

Roy mumbled an "all right" as he stared at the floor, the towel around his shoulders dripping wet now from the moisture. Marth left the bed, grabbed Falchion from the sheets, and walked out the door.

-x-

"Why does this always happen to _me_?" Link muttered, Master Sword slung over his shoulder. "I always do something utterly stupid. What am I gonna tell _Zelda_, anyway? Oh, I can just see it now..." He imagined Zelda turning into some weird dragon-like monster with glowing red eyes and chomping on his flesh...

Link opened the door to the training arena and stared out into the black expanse that turned into the field of their choosing. Marth was tinkering with the controls of the arena, trying to figure out what stage he wanted to have his practise match take place on.

Link walked down the steps, passing by the bleachers that held spectators from everywhere you could imagine, and the VIP boxes, which was where the other Smashers sat to see battles. He jumped down the last few steps and hit the asphalt, a small cloud of dust forming from his landing.

"I guess I'm not alone here." Link scratched the back of his neck.

Marth turned around then. "Guess not." How straight-to-the-point Marth was. "I guess Master Hand screwed the booking up."

"So... So how's Roy? He was sneezing all the way home 'cause it started to rain and..." Link made a few useless gestures with his hands. "I hope he hasn't caught pneumonia."

Leaning against one of the arena walls, Marth ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh.

"Roy is understandably upset, but he was a little better when I left to come here."

Link stared at the ground. "I...I didn't mean to... It just sorta...happened."

Marth nodded. "Go on."

Link looked a little less suicidal at Marth's urging. "Y'mean you're not gonna throw me out the window or impale me with that sword of yours?"

Marth let out a hollow-sounding chuckle.

"I don't like causing unnecessary drama; in fact, I don't like causing drama _period_. I'm not going to say I'm going to kill you or turn this into a soap opera. Roy specifically said what went on, I believe his word, and I'm here to listen to your side."

Link plopped his rear down onto the asphalt. "So you're not pissed at me?"

Marth's eyes narrowed. "On the contrary, I am _very_ pissed off. I'm very good at hiding it, because tempers gone awry lead to nowhere."

Link dropped the sheath of the Master Sword onto the ground then. Marth wasn't going to let Link off so easily.

"You've made Roy blame himself, and it's not his fault."

"I know that," Link said, fidgeting. "I know it's not his fault. I dunno why he's taking all of the blame."

"You could have ruined our relationship, Link. I hope you realise that."

Link nodded emphatically. "'Course I do. But I didn't--"

"I know you didn't mean it." Marth sighed again. "I'm not very good with words, but I...I want you to apologise to Roy for what you did, for lack of a better idea at the moment."

"But I _did_ and he wouldn't listen to me!"

"Then wait for him to calm down. You owe him that, for making him go through something like that. Especially when he doesn't like you like that."

Link nodded. "I think Roy knows how sorry I am but... I'll apologise to him _again_ once he's willing to stop shouting at me."

Marth idly looked at his watch. "Did you talk to Zelda?"

Link looked to the asphalt then. Must Marth bring that up _now_? Link hadn't thought of a way to confront her about the issue yet.

"Err...no. No, I haven't." Seeing Marth about to say something, Link cut in with, "I'll tell her eventually, I swear."

"So you're just going to have her go on, oblivious, while you go on your merry way?"

Link wished Marth wouldn't look like he was staring into his soul.

"...Let me wait until school's over, at least. Then I have time to think."

Marth kicked away from the wall, Falchion's sheath clattering against the stone wall.

"If you don't tell her, Roy will, or I will. She deserves to know as soon as possible."

Link walked over to Marth and tried to size him up - a little difficult since Marth was a few inches taller than Link - with his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Let me handle the situation, Marth. Go comfort your boyfriend."

Hoisting the sword-belt over his shoulder, Link stomped up the stairs of the stadium while Marth watched, shaking his head the whole time.

_When will you learn, Link? When will you _learn?

-x-

A few hours had passed since Marth and Link's quasi-confrontation. The bedroom was dark, the room filled with complete silence, and all was still. Roy, exhausted from the events that unfolded, was fast asleep, his school clothes thrown wherever, his pajama pants were on backwards, and Roy's shirt was still around his neck. It was like he passed out while getting ready to sleep.

Marth opened and closed the door and hoped the floorboards would be silent for once. (_I really should get Master Hand to fix that_, Marth thought when a floorboard he stepped on creaked ominously and quite loudly.) He walked over to his bed and placed Falchion back in its place by the bedpost. He took off his day clothes, threw them in the laundry basket, picked up after Roy (because if Marth didn't, he would go insane from thinking about it all night), and slid into bed afterwards. Marth was wondering if Roy would "sneak" into bed with him tonight, or if Roy was going to stay in his own.

"Roy?"

No answer. Marth turned onto his side, his head supported by his arm.

"Roy."

A grunt. "Wha' d'you w'nt..."

Marth patted the empty space beside him. "Come over here."

Roy turned over in the bed a few times, untangled himself from the sheets, and got up, almost falling over from tiredness. He walked over to Marth's bed and sat down on the designated spot, slid under the covers, and turned so that he wasn't facing Marth.

"Stop blaming yourself." Marth pulled Roy closer, rested his chin on Roy's shoulder, and kissed just below his ear.

"I'm not," Roy replied. "I didn't do nothing wrong." He turned in Marth's arms after moving Marth's head away, wrapped his arms around Marth's neck, and snuggled close. He didn't care that Marth was a little sweaty from practise.

"You're not gonna leave me, are you?" Roy asked, his voice sounding uneasy.

Marth chuckled. "Of course not."

"What about Link? What did you do?"

Marth kissed Roy's mouth gently as he stroked Roy's cheek. "He's still alive. I just lectured him on what he did."

"...Are you and him still going to be on speaking terms?"

Marth thought of his response. "...We are. I can't say the same for him and Zelda at the moment, but yes, we are. It might be a bit awkward, though... At least, for a while."

Roy straddled Marth's leg and grinned, though it was hard to see in the darkness. "I'm glad you found a way to salvage the friendship."

"I did it for your sake, you were friends with him longer." Marth kissed Roy again, this time much more deeper than the last.

They didn't speak of the issue any more, their minds on other things.

"I'll take you out for your birthday tomorrow," Roy promised through another yawn.

"I'll hold you to it," Marth said.

"I know you will."

-x-

**Author's Notes:** Ooh, drama! I bet you weren't expecting something like _that_ to happen! I wonder what Zelda's gonna do to Link after she finds out...poor guy's been through enough because of Marth's lecture... You'll just have to stick around to see what happens next!


	14. Chapter 14

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Fourteen-**

"Older me, wake up." Young Link, who was normally not up at six twelve in the morning, decided that now was the time Link was to wake up.

Link did nothing except grunt in annoyance at being disturbed and turned over, pulling the sheets over his head.

"Oi! Wake _up_!" To show how serious he was, Young Link took his pillow and chucked it at Link's head, hitting his mark with amazing accuracy.

Link bolted up from his bed, the sheets and blankets going every which way. His eyes were half-lidded, bogged down with sleep, as his head slowly turned to look at his younger half.

"What is the meaning of this?" Link asked, though it sounded more slurred than anything else. "It's _Saturday_, let me sleep."

Young Link merely blinked, as if Link's behaviour didn't faze him, which, in all truthfullness, it didn't. Link was like this _every_ morning.

"Yeah, it is Saturday," Young Link replied, "but you've still got exams." He was already throwing Link's school articles onto his bed, while Link tried to remember what planet he was on.

Not too far from Link's room, the situation was quite the opposite. How Young Link wished Link could be like Marth and Roy and just _get his butt up_ when the time came to. Young Link sighed. Soon, summer would come, and they could sleep as long as they felt like it. Which, for Link, was almost all day.

-x-

"Maaaarth! Stop hogging the bathroom, I have to shower!" Roy crossed his arms, towel slung over his shoulders as he glared at the closed door of the bathroom.

Marth poked his head out of the facilities, his hair slightly damp, as if he was going to enter the shower but was interrupted at the last second.

"If you want to shower so bad," Marth said, strategically placing the door so that nothing of interest was in view, "you're welcome to join me."

Roy didn't miss the coy smile Marth flashed, or how he left the door slightly ajar. What showering with his boyfriend would lead to, he didn't know. But he was willing to find out as he opened the door the rest of the way, and closed it behind him with a small _click_.

"That's a nice view," Roy teased, dropping his towel by the tub, a stark contrast to Marth's folded towel placed neatly on the laundry hamper by the sink.

Marth flushed and closed the shower curtain even more as Roy disrobed, leaving his clothes where they fell. Roy didn't know why he felt so eager to shower with Marth, but he did. Pulling the curtain open once again, he almost slipped as Marth grabbed him by the wrists, threw him against the shower wall, and kissed him so fiercely that Roy knew immediately what showering with Marth would lead to.

"Why Marth, I'm surprised you would even _consider_ shower sex," Roy teased once more as Marth nipped at his neck. "It's so unconventional and--oh, Marth, I didn't know you liked it rough."

Marth grinned as he captured Roy's lips once more.

"I'm tired of being conventional," Marth replied, his words muffled by Roy's mouth. "What's the point of being in a relationship when we can't explore--Was your tongue just in my mouth?"

Roy smirked and flipped Marth over so that _Marth _was against the wall, and he was on top.

"Yes," Roy said in such an innocent voice. "I'm sure you won't mind it being there again..."

Once again, they were both speechless as Roy initiated a kiss so passionate, so deep, that Marth couldn't even stand up any more, and Roy came crashing down on top of him.

Roy couldn't believe just how much hotter Marth was when he was covered in water.

-x-

"Okay," Link said, looking at his exam schedule, a whole piece of buttered toast hanging precariously from his mouth, "lesse 'ere... Se'enth an' fi'th 'eriods. Crap."

Zelda took the toast out of Link's mouth and placed it on the plate in front of him. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Link, it's not polite."

Link sighed as he jammed the practically-in-shambles sheet of paper into his back pocket. "Din-awful _Gym_ exam... They'll probably make us do something stupid, like play basketball when we're supposed to be doing weight room or something."

Roy swung around the banister of the stairs and into the kitchen, looking happier than one really should during Exam Week. Link ripped off a piece of toast with his fingers and munched on it, trying to remember everything they learned in Gym since the second semester started - something that was difficult because Link didn't really care much for the subject.

"Roy," Link said as he ripped off another piece of toast, "what'd we learn in PE this semester?"

Roy was by the coffee machine, adding another scoop of pre-ground coffee into the maker.

"Archery," Roy answered, closing the coffee tin and the lid of the maker. "Uh... We did volleyball, too, didn't we?"

Link sighed once again. "This is hopeless. I'm going to end up being held back. _Again_. All because of stupid History and PE!"

Roy drummed his fingers against the granite countertop as he waited for the coffee to be done. Master Hand had ordered one of those "express" coffee makers, which were allegedly said to make coffee in under five minutes under ideal room temperatures and whether it was raining or sunny out. Many protested that such a coffee maker was unnecessary since a normal one took about ten or so minutes, but Bowser, who was very impatient, said it was a great idea. Roy didn't think it worked any faster, but he lived with it.

"Isn't the coffee s'pposed to be done by now?" Link asked, finishing off his toast, and was thus nearly incoherent.

Roy looked at his watch. Only three minutes had gone by. Either time was moving slower than usual, or Roy was just unusually impatient this morning.

"Give it a minute or two," Zelda said, smacking Link over the head with the newspaper in a friendly-sort of way.

"Since when didja drink coffee, anyway?" Link asked before taking a swig of Mountain-Coke-Dew, Link's alleged experiment he created one New Year's Eve.

"Isn't that stuff kind of gross?" Zelda asked, going about her morning routine, which was to feed Pichu, even though Pikachu was supposed to be the one to do it.

"You dunno what you're missing, Zellie," Link replied. "So answer me, Roy: since when did you drink coffee?"

Roy, who was thinking about the events that happened that morning with Marth - how they had wrestled on the floor of the shower, which led to other, more sexual things, how Roy nipped at Marth's neck as he neared the wondrous throes of ecstasy -, was suddenly pulled out of his reverie by the coffee maker making a sort of scraping noise.

"Since exam week started," Roy answered, pouring the piping hot beverage into his mug. "Cramming isn't fun."

Link, who knew Roy was definitely not studying for exams at night, merely gave him an "I don't believe you" look and took another gulp of his soda experiment.

"What's there to study for? It's only PE. I'm dreading our Bio exam."

"Again with the Biology examination?" Marth, who had been leaning in the doorway for the past five minutes, shook his head in a pitiful sort of way.

Link stood up to take his dish to the sink, nearly threw it out the window when he saw the pile of plates and pans in the aforementioned sink, and somehow nearly stabbed himself with a butterknife.

"Bio isn't my best subject," Link confessed, grabbing his bag from the back of his chair. "I'm not a very...scientific person."

"Nothing is your best subject," Marth replied, his tone flat as he watched Link mill about the kitchen. "You just don't try hard enough."

"Yeah, well, in a subject that says sentient hands aren't possible, and yet Master and Crazy Hand both exist... The mind, she be boggled."

Roy sipped his coffee and said nothing. Link had a point.

"What're you all dressed up for?" Link asked then, pointing a finger at Marth's being in such formal wear.

"Job interview," Roy answered before Marth could say anything. "At a lin--"

"Don't," Marth interrupted. "Before I die of embarrassment."

"Oh please, you've seen underwear before."

"Yes, but I don't think your boxers have lace trim all over them," Marth retorted. Link snorted Mountain-Coke-Dew up his nose by accident.

"I always thought Roy was more of a tighty-whitey kind of guy."

Roy grabbed one of the available thermoses, poured his cup of coffee - plus more - into it, sealed it, and threw it in his bag on the counter.

"Come on, Link, let's go. I'm sure you have to brush up on a few things." Roy dragged his bag off of the counter and slung the strap over his shoulder, ready to go.

Link muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "I hope our gym teacher burns in Hell for this exam." But then he remembered that one Samus Aran was their gym teacher, which meant they were already _in_ Hell.

"See you for dinner tonight, Marthy?" Roy asked as Marth took a seat at the kitchen table.

"Of course."

Roy gave Marth a peck on the cheek and said a hasty, "Bye!" as he ran out the door, nearly throwing Link ten feet down the driveway.

-x-

"Doomed!" Link said for the millionth time since they entered the school. "Doomed and dead."

Roy had to practically drag Link down the back staircase leading down to the locker rooms, for Link was truly that scared of finding out what evils they were to be subjected to.

"Now just stay calm, okay?" Roy said, getting his stuff out of his locker. "You're gonna be fine."

"Doomed," Link said in reply, shaking his head slowly as he pulled off his uniform pants. Roy was ready to strangle him with his tie.

"Maybe we'll have to shoot some targets," Roy speculated as he pulled his sweatpants on. "In which case I'll suck and you'll get an A."

"But what if it's basketball or volleyball? I can't do either of those things!"

"Well then... I don't know what to tell you." Roy slipped a simple t-shirt on and shoved his uniform into his locker again, shackling it closed. "We'll just have to go up to the gym and see."

Link was on the verge of tears as he jammed his feet into his sneakers. Roy was rubbing his arms with his hands - they must have had the air conditioning on thirty below or something in the gym, especially when they opened the locker room door and were blasted in the face by cold air.

"Is it _cold_ enough in here?" Link asked through chattering teeth. "I'm sensitive to the cold."

Roy shrugged, getting used to the extreme temperature. "If you slept in my room, you'd have to put up with temperatures like this. Marth likes the cold."

And so they waltzed over to their usual side of the gym with students looking like they were ready for their execution. Many were muttering things to themselves as they looked over their study sheets, others were talking with friends, and Marth's fanclub was huddling in the corner gossiping.

"If Roy and Marth ever break up," Terry - the leader of the club - began, "I'll be the first in line to try to date him."

"I wanted to be the first to deflower him," another one in the club whined, his eyes wistful. "Roy's a lucky guy. Maybe I should ask him what it was like..."

Roy just ignored them as he and Link went past. Sure, Marth was hot - _Understatement of the year_, Roy thought -, but it wasn't like there weren't any others around the building. Roy didn't see a group of guys huddling in the corner ogling Zelda or Samus.

"Look!" Fabian - another nondescript club member - whispered, pointing to where Roy and Link were sitting down. "We should go ask Roy what sex with Marth is like."

"I bet it's awesomer than awesome," Phillipe said, grinning. "Like when you finish a raid in World of Warcraft with your small arsed army."

Terry stood then, and Fabian swore angel choirs were singing softly as the club leader walked the short distance to where Roy and Link sat, talking about how doomed they were.

"Roy Pherae and Link Meleki?" Terry asked.

"Yeah," Roy replied. "Who're you?" Roy shifted so he was sitting with one leg underneath him.

"Actually, it's Mekkai--"

"Charmed," Terry interrupted, not really caring much about Link. That was okay; Link didn't care much for Terry Bochefski anyway.

"Your name is Charmed?" Roy asked, wondering if his parents watched too much television. Terry did an extremely overexaggerated laugh, as if what Roy said was the funniest thing since Monty Python.

"No, I'm Terry Bochefski, president of 'We Worship Marth'. I'm sure you've heard of us, no?"

Roy looked to Link and then back to Terry, who was wearing a grin too big for his face.

"Unfortunately," Roy replied. "Whaddya want?"

Terry planted his rear down onto the bench next to Roy, producing a small memo pad and pencil from his back pocket as he did.

"I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions about your relationship with the hottest guy in Melee Academy."

_Oh, no, of course not_, Roy thought sarcastically. _Just pry away into my personal life! Make sure to wedge that crow bar in deep and pull..._

Not waiting for a response, Terry asked, "Did you celebrate Marth's birthday - June 11th?"

"Is he _serious_?" Link whispered into Roy's ear. "Why the heck would--"

"Quiet, Link," Roy whispered back. In reference to Terry's question, he replied, "I'm taking him out to dinner."

Terry nodded his head as he took notes. "Somewhere fancy? You wouldn't take him to McBurgerBell, would you?"

Disbelief filled Roy's face. Did Terry _honestly_ think he was that cheap? "Of course somewhere fancy. He's my _boyfriend_."

"Where?" was the next question.

"His choice," was the answer. Even if Roy knew where Marth wanted to go, he wouldn't say anything to Terry about it. That was all they needed, Terry prancing through the doors and ruining their romantic evening.

Terry grinned even more at the next question on his list. "You and Marth have had sex, correct?"

_Oh, how blunt of you, Terry_, Roy thought. Spitefully, "No, we haven't."

Terry nearly dropped his jaw and his notepad. "_What_? That is such bullshit."

"So're your questions," Roy replied, crossing his arms. "You have the audacity to ask questions about things that are of no concern to you." Now Roy was channeling Marth, but he didn't care at the moment.

"So how's the sex?" Terry pressed.

Roy's phone rang then, and Roy welcomed the distraction. Peeking at the screen, it said "Marth" on it, tilde and all.

"Gotta take this," Roy replied, flipping the phone open, and put it up to his ear. "Yes?"

Terry wanted to grab the phone and speak to Marth, profess his love for him perhaps... He had to have been a better boyfriend than this red headed schmuck who wouldn't answer a few questions. Granted, a few were a bit personal, but Roy didn't have to be so rude!

"All right, pick me up after Fencing. Shouldn't go anywhere over four. I love you too, Marthy." Roy flipped the phone closed before Terry could add anything, and pocketed it.

"Where were we?" Roy asked, not really caring.

"The sex," Terry prompted. "How is it?"

"Better than anything you could write," Roy replied, grinning like a kid in a candy store. "Gotta beware of the quiet ones. Tigers, I tell you. _Tigers_."

Terry nearly died at the description. "Good kisser, I presume? Your make out sessions are infamous in my little circle."

Like Roy was going to let out any more details about his love life. "Ask Marth."

"I already did, but he wouldn't say anything to me!" Terry cried. "I MUST KNOW!"

Roy blinked a few times and elbowed Link in the side. "Run. Now."

Before Terry could comprehend anything more, Roy and Link ran as far from Terry as the space in the gym allowed.

"Is Marth really a tiger?" Link asked, snickering at the thought.

"T'tell you the truth, Marth's not really that...vocal," Roy admitted. "He makes noise, don't get me wrong, but... He's not shouting my name or anything."

"Sounds like a wet blanket."

Roy shook his head. "No no, the sex is amazing, I assure you. If I bite him hard enough, he shouts my name. And it's the hottest thing ever."

Link's body thought it was the hottest description ever, but his brain thought _do not want_ the entire time.

"Attention all sophomore, junior, and senior gym classes! There will be no exam, I repeat, no exam!"

Link nearly fainted and Roy nearly smacked Terry's entourage upside the head with his thermos.

-x-

"No Chorus exam," Link said, good-natured, as they walked through the hallways after changing back to their uniforms. "Does that mean we go home or do we go there anyway?"

Roy took out the memo that was sent around the Academy the week before.

"'Students do not have to report to school during lunch and study periods, the second period of a two period class, work/study programme, Renaissance seniors who are exempt from an exam or exams, or for courses which do not have an exam.'"

"Thank Din," Link said. "So what now?"

"First period attendance. History with G-dorf for me."

Link sighed. "Hylian for me. I wonder if they'll give the exams back?"

Roy shrugged as he took a drink from his thermos. "I dunno. It's only an eight minute period, so I don't think there's enough time to."

Roy slid the door to his history class open and waved to Link, who continued on to his language class.

_Farore, if you love me, please have me do good on all of my exams_, Link prayed. _I can't afford to be held back - again_.

-x-

"I have your exams graded," Mr. Dragmire said, pacing in front of his desk. Many of the students could care less about what Mr. Dragmire had to say, but the teacher completely ignored their lack of paying attention. "Most of you...failed. In fact, only two people didn't fail, but I won't tell you who did and didn't pass as to torture you and leave you in suspense. I await most of you for summer school - I'm the only one who teaches summer school History."

Everyone ignored the evil laugh and went back to their card games. Roy was busy texting Marth, who was currently at his job interview.

_'Have I had any exp in retail' was one of the questions on the form thing_, Marth's message read. _I've bought things before, but I don't think that counts._

_Course not, dear Marthy_, Roy texted back. _They wanna know if you've ever sold stuff before, like at a Game Stop or something._

_I've been sitting here for the past half hour, and the woman isn't finished with my resume yet. It wasn't even that long!_ was the message that caused Roy's phone to vibrate five minutes later.

_Is she looking at you over the resume?_

Twenty minutes later, Marth answered, _Yes, she is. I think she's undressing me with her eyes._

-x-

"Motto suTEKI na aSA ga kuuuuru yooo," Link sang, causing Roy to turn up the volume on his Nintenpod, because Link was extremely off key.

"Spare me my ears, Link!" Roy shouted, nearly knocking the Hero of Time into a tree on their way home. "I need them so I can hear Marth romance me with that voice of his."

Never mind that passers-by were looking at the duo strangely.

"Link, I'm gonna clobber you over the head with my foils and then drag your unconscious ass back home if you continue," Roy threatened, retrieving one of the aforementioned foils from his bag.

"What? I'm preparing myself for Nintendo Idol!"

If only Link were kidding.

"Anyway," Roy continued, as if Link said nothing, "I have practise until three at the rec centre, so tell Peach I won't be home for dinner."

"Why's that?"

"Hello, I'm taking Marth out for dinner afterwards." Did Link not pay any attention to anything he said that morning?

"Oh," Link said, as if he just realised something. "That's right. Hahaha, I'm so absent-minded at times!"

Roy sighed. "I have no idea what to _wear_. Knowing Marth, he'll want some formal place or some such."

"You sound like Zelda when there's some sort of function coming up that requires something nice," Link remarked, messing with his Nintenpod. "You're the son of a marquess, right?"

"Yes," Roy replied, his mind focusing more on dinner with Marth than anything Link was really saying.

"Then you should have _something_ to wear. And who knows? It might not be as formal as you think."

"I want something romantic, but not _cheesy_. I mean, girls don't like a guy being cheesy, right?"

"There's your problem," Link said in such a nonchalant manner. "Marth isn't a _girl_. So stop going all, 'Girls hate this' and 'girls really like that' because _it doesn't apply_."

Roy scowled. "He isn't even like most _guys_, so even that doesn't help."

Link patted Roy's shoulder in a reassuring way. "Just follow your heart."

"That's schmoopy if I ever heard it."

"I know it sounds cliché, Roy, but... It's true. Just do what _you_ think Marth'll like. He's your boyfriend, so you should know what he likes and what he doesn't..."

"Where'd you get all of this advice?"

Link beamed. "Haha, I guess I watch too much of those...dating shows? I guess they're the reality TV 'celebrity-wants-to-find-a-lover' ones."

Roy sighed. "I guess it makes sense, though. And hey, it's the thought that counts, right?"

Link nodded. "Of course. But you want to make sure that your actual _thoughts_ are shown through what you give, okay? You don't give someone some piece of crap gift."

"It could work," Roy said, mulling it over. "It says, 'I was thinking of you'... Not that I would ever give Marth some piece of crap _anything_..."

Link jerked his companion to the side of the pavement, nearly knocking Roy to the ground.

"Did you get him anything?" Link asked, his tone urgent.

"Of _course_ I did."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Link sounded exasperated now.

Roy deadpanned. "Because I can't trust you to keep your mouth shut, Mr. Gossip."

The proverbial devil horns popped out of Link's head as he grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

"No, I'm not telling you what I got," Roy said, reading Link's mind. The grin on Link's face disappeared.

"Aww, c'mon, Roy! I _promise_ I won't tell!"

"Just like when you promised you wouldn't tell the whole school Marth and I were kissing in the nurse's office all those months ago, and the next day, it was in your _gossip column_."

Link blinked. "Gossip isn't necessarily true!" His arms were flailing now.

"Well if Marth and I got together and started making out in the middle of a hallway, you'd know that the gossip _was true_."

"Aren't you going to be late for Fencing practise?"

Roy looked at his watch and saw that, yes, he was going to be late.

"We will continue this argument at a later date, Mr. Mekkai," Roy said, his voice professional-sounding. He even straightened up his tie.

"Synchronising my schedule," Link said, taking his PDA out. "What time would be most appropriate?"

"Perhaps tomorrow, around this time?"

Link scribbled it down on tomorrow's date and nodded, saving the changes. "This time tomorrow, good sir."

"Adieu, my boon companion!" Roy said, using the sleeve of his blazer as a hankerchief. "Adieu!"

At the intersection of Devon, Chestnut, Main, and Oakwood, Roy and Link went their separate ways - Link up Oakwood, Roy down Main.

_Theoretically, as Fencing captain, I can show up whenever I want_, Roy thought, stopping at the light on the corner. _But that won't show a very good impression, would it?_

He would have to cut this week's meeting short - when he said it wouldn't run over three o'clock, it _wouldn't_. And Marth would be there half an hour early, just because Roy secretly thought Marth got a little hot seeing him all sweaty and kicking butt.

In reality, Marth got there half an hour early because parking from three onward was a bitch to contend with.

-x-

"Zellie, I think I failed History."

"_Again_, Link?" Zelda was busy peeling an apple for Peach's apple pie dessert over the granite countertop. "Didn't you fail it last year?"

"Yeah." Link stole one of the apples in the basket next to Zelda and kissed her on the cheek in thanks. She always let him get away with it. "That's why I had to repeat this year _all over again_."

"Young Link'll probably graduate high school with you at the rate you're going." She chuckled, coring an apple now.

"Is he already going to be thirteen this coming school year? Wow, time flies."

Marth barged through the kitchen door, a grin plastered on his face as he threw his jacket onto the back of the nearest chair. Link counted twenty seconds before Marth straightened it out, and tried hard to not laugh - he should be used to Marth's neatness. Link looked up the symptoms once as he procrastinated on homework, and renamed Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder to "Marth Syndrome" in his head.

"You look happy," Zelda commented, wiping her hands on a towel. "Good news?"

"Yes," Marth replied, sitting down on the chair with his jacket. "They hired me. I start next week."

"Doing what?" Link asked, propping his feet up on the table. Zelda pushed them off and gave him a scolding look.

"Retail," Marth replied. "In the mall a little ways from here."

"What store? Don't tell me Gawth Dressings or whatever the store's called."

"Not Hot Topic, no," Marth replied, trying to figure out where Link got "Gawth Dressings" from. "A...different store."

Link straightened in his seat and moved closer. Clearly, Marth was hiding something, and Link was not one to back down until he found out.

"Then _where_? It can't be _that_ embarrassing."

The blush on Marth's face told Link that _yes_, it was that embarrassing.

"Clothing?" Link asked, playing "Twenty Questions".

"Yes."

"It's not Hot Topic... Game Stop?"

"Link, that's a video game store, not a clothing one," Marth corrected, crossing his arms in a casual sort of way.

"Err, the store next to the Game Stop?"

"That's the food court."

Link was getting frustrated. "There's that leather store... Uh...not that sword shop, either..."

"_Clothing_, Link, _clothing_," Marth reminded him.

"Victoria Secret?"

Link felt so smug then, for he guessed correctly. At least, he _thought_ he guessed correctly - Marth was as red as Roy's hair, and Roy's hair was _scarlet_.

"A lingerie store?" Zelda chimed in, chopping the apples into small chunks on a cutting board.

"It was the only place hiring!" Marth reasoned, making up an excuse.

Link was having a field day. "But you'll be around bras and panties and _thongs_ and cors--"

"_Shut up_." Marth hid his face in his hands.

"Well, I can think of worse places," Link said.

"What could be worse than a lingerie store targeted towards women?"

"A sex shop."

Marth got up from his place at the table, grabbed his jacket, and walked out of the Manse as fast as he could.

A sex shop would be _better_ than a lingerie store, one of his classmates had said.

You wouldn't catch Marth dead and dismembered in either, normally. He would have been better off working at Hot Topic or that sword place. Especially the sword place - swords _were_ his forté, were they not?

Too bad they weren't hiring, but as soon as they were, he was going to be first in line with a filled out application and résumé.

Oh, if Sheeda knew, she would probably be red in face from laughing so hard. The King of Altea, the Prince of Light (according to Altea's people, anyway), the one who killed Garnef and Medeus twice each, working in a lingerie store.

_Oh gods, what will _Roy_ think?_ As if Roy's opinion on Marth's place of employment mattered more than what his wife and kingdom thought.

-x-

Marth was, as usual, at the rec centre half an hour before he really had to. He entered through the doors and went through another to see two blurs on a duel mat. One of the fencers had long hair pulled back into a ponytail, visible from underneath the protective head gear. The other's hair must have been short, for it was concealed by the face mask.

"Touché."

The long haired fencer looked down to see the point of the foil poking his chest.

"Nice one, as always, Captain." Long-hair pulled her face mask off and shook her head, freeing any loose hair from her face.

"I try," came the teasing remark. He too took off his helmet, revealing a mess of red hair. "You've improved a lot."

Each positioned their foils so that they were parallel to their faces, the points facing the ceiling. Holding the stance for a few seconds, the one with red hair relaxed his position first, signaling that she could do the same.

"All right, same time next week. Make sure you guys keep practising - some of you need it. That's all!"

Marth took that as a cue that the meeting was over, that it was safe to step into the "dojo" itself.

"Impressive, as always," Marth said, startling Roy.

"You've seen me fight before, I don't see how I can still remain 'impressive' to you." Roy stuffed his foils and head gear into his duffel bag, pausing when Marth embraced him from behind, and resumed as Marth planted kiss after kiss on his cheek.

"Because then I can see you improving more," Marth replied. "Do we have to go back to the Manse?"

Roy shook his head. "No, I brought extra clothes with me. I hope we're going somewhere dressy 'cause that's all I have."

Marth shrugged, letting go of Roy reluctantly. "Doesn't matter to me since my opinion of 'dressy' might differ from yours. If you'd rather go back for a more suitable change of clothes--"

"No, that's fine. So long as you're not picking a place like McBurgerBell or something."

Roy took his change of clothes out of his bag and went into the bathroom to change. Marth sat in one of the spectator seats as he waited, going over the details of their little "date". Hopefully nothing unexpected would ruin their plans this time, unlike yesterday when Link was in the middle of everything.

Roy came back, dressed in somewhat formal attire, his fencing things in his arms as he shoved them into the oversized duffel bag. Zipping it closed, he slung it over his shoulder and went over to Marth.

"We're not going to a wedding or anything," Marth teased. "It's only a semi-formal restaurant."

"Then I'll loosen the tie a little and scuff up my Converse, which are already scuffed to hell and back to begin with."

"Don't forget to open the top two buttons," Marth added, escorting him out the door with his hand guiding Roy to the car.

"Maybe later," Roy replied as Marth opened the car door for him. "What a gentleman."

"Anything for you, love." Marth closed the door as soon as Roy was fiddling with the seatbelt, and went over to the driver's side. Climbing in and buckling up himself, he started the engine.

If only Roy remembered that his boyfriend was a prince, which meant that Marth's definition of "semi-formal" was different from Roy's.

-x-

"Link, can you stop playing World of Warcraft for five seconds to help me with my homework?" Young Link asked, holding up his math homework. Link was focused intently on a raid he was participating in, hacking up enemies and covering allies.

"Sorry, younger self," Link said, speaking more to the monitor than to the younger Link, "but this raid party _needs_ me. Ask Marth - he's good with...school stuffs."

Young Link huffed and crossed his arms, his eyes drilling holes into the back of Link's head.

"Marth's on a _date_," Young Link replied, moving closer. "In case you forgot that tiny and very miniscule detail."

"Then ask Zelda--Oh hell _no_! You don't kill _my_ teammates and get away with it!"

Young Link sighed and decided that asking Link for help on anything involving numbers was a bad idea, so he left their room without another word, slamming the door behind him. A "Code Geass" wall scroll on it fell off - not like Link noticed or really even cared. World of Warcraft was _serious business_.

_What the heck does Zelda see in my older self, anyway?_ he thought as he barged into Ness's room down the hall. He too had a wall scroll on the back of his door, this one of Ronin Warriors. It, like Link's, came crashing down to the floor from the force. And like Link, Ness barely noticed.

"How many times have I told you to knock, YL?" the psychic boy asked, looking up from his English assignment due in September. He was lying on his stomach, feet in the air, his head propped up by his arms.

"Thirty seven, but let me remind you that, in Kokiri Forest, they've never even _heard_ of a door. Anyway, listen--" Young Link crouched down onto the brown-coloured carpet next to Ness "--I need you to help me with my math, and I know you're smart so..."

Ness rolled onto his back, sat up, and retrieved his book bag off the un-made bed behind him.

"If you're asking to copy off of me, YL, I'm not giving you my stuff." Ness shot him a stern look, as if offended by such a request.

Young Link dropped his stuff onto the floor next to him and opened to the set of math problems half done.

"I'm not Link," Young Link replied.

"Well technically--"

"I'm his past self, but that doesn't make me _him_." Young Link shoved the homework under Ness's nose with impatience tinging his actions. "Help me, for the love of Farore - I am completely lost here." The thirteen year old's forté in school was definitely not maths. In his opinion, it was a waste of time, and therefore he didn't pay much attention in the class.

Ness knew where his older self got such maths-illiteracy from. Unable to turn Young Link away, he took a look at the set of problems his friend had to answer.

"What the hell, YL? Since when was the answer to this division problem _five_?" He pointed at the offending question as if it were obscene, his eyes wide.

Young Link took a gander at it and then chuckled. "I swear that said forty five divided by nine."

Ness just shook his head slowly. This was going to be a long night.

Now he knew how Marth felt when he helped Link with his algebra. _Why me, God? Why me?_

-x-

Only a single lightbulb was emitting any sort of light as two people sat at the kitchen table; the other two inhabitants were standing on opposite sides of the kitchen - one was standing with her arms folded, the other was only a third human. The two seated at the table were whispering things in a conspiratorial-sort of voice, while the lone female in the room was busy arguing with a disembodied and sentient hand.

Peach threw up her arms in defeat and backed away from Master Hand, tempted to throw a turnip at his palm as she clenched her jaw shut. She would let him think about her terse words.

"This place is already crowded enough, and so you feel the need to house additional people here?"

Master Hand drummed his fingers against the floor, sitting on the heel of his hand. "It's additional revenue, Princess! Besides, we'll be adding an annex so that the newcomers are separate - you won't have to worry about a thing."

"I thought we had to _vote_ on decisions like this," Fox piped in, the whispering over with. "Some of the people you want here could be rivals to us, for all you know!"

"Which would be great for tournament season!" Master Hand chimed, his disembodied voice sounding cheerfully out of place in the solemn atmosphere filling the kitchen.

"But meanwhile, we could kill each other," Falco added, leaning his chair back so it was standing on two legs. "But oh, I guess that would be _great_ for media exposure!"

Clearly the Manse Head was missing the sarcasm in Falco's voice, and was obviously missing the point. If Master Hand could barely afford twenty five people, what made him so sure he could afford _thirty eight_? Especially if some of them might be dead, according to Falco's contribution to the discussion at hand.

"No," Peach said. "I will not allow this."

"You have no say," Master Hand answered. "This is my decision and mine alone - I own you until you decide to leave!"

"Which we might just do," Falco quipped. "And if you have no one here, you have no money. Fox and I have better things to do than stay here."

"Falco!" The camoflouge-wearing fox gave Falco a look of surprise.

"What about the schools?" Peach asked, clearly concerned about the educational facilities now. "If you're creating a new name for the tournament, are you changing the names of them?"

"I can't be arsed to change the names of them," the hand answered. "Crazy doesn't have the authority to do it, either. I made sure of that. He's insane."

Fox wondered if Master Hand knew he himself was just _as_ insane.

Peach shook her head. "I don't _care_ about the names, Master Hand! I care about the head of the institution. Crazy Hand really isn't capable of really...being in such a position and you're busy running this place... If there is to be a new leaf turned, as you said, then...?"

There was an eerie silence as Master Hand drummed his fingers once more.

"Come September...there will be a new principal." He made sure to word his response carefully, for Master Hand could be crafty when he wished to be so.

"And that would be?" Fox asked. "I mean, _I_ work there, so I suppose I oughta care."

If Master Hand had a face, he would be grinning in an eerily cheerful way. In fact, technically, the hand _did_ have a body somewhere, but he hadn't seen it in years. Probably not a currently smiling body, however.

"His name is Tabuu, I think. Nice fellow."

Master Hand thought all of this change was a good idea. Crazy Hand was a bad influence, it seemed, on the Manse Head's sanity.

Peach had no idea what to really say.

"I bet he's a nut job," Falco remarked. "You'd _have_ to be one in order to want to work at the Academy."

It was a shame that none of them were clairvoyant - they would have then seen that this "Tabuu" guy was far from being a "nice fellow". Then again, none of the people Crazy Hand liked and recommended to his brother were quite sane to begin with.

-x-

Roy didn't know why, but he felt so nervous sitting in such a fancy establishment. It was so fancy that there was a fountain in the middle of the restaurant squirting _chocolate cookie dough ice cream_, and no one but Roy paid much notice - they were probably all filthy rich and had their own at home in their living rooms.

He should have known the moment he and Marth walked into the place that it was going to be on the pricey side, the only problem was just _how_ pricey. To give an idea, Roy nearly had a heart attack upon opening the menu. That was only the appetisers section. He shuddered to think what the dinners costed. And for the cash strapped high schooler, that was important information to know. (Ten dollars for french fries was expensive - _They better be _diamond_ encrusted for that price_, Roy thought.)

"I thought you said this wasn't 'too fancy'!" Roy had said when they were seated. Everything was immaculate, of course. It should, for a five star restaurant, and if it wasn't, Marth wasn't going to be too happy.

"I guess I neglected to mention that my definition of 'fancy' is just a bit higher than yours," Marth replied as he thumbed through the menu.

"A five star restaurant isn't 'too fancy'?" Roy mumbled, looking at all the dinner choices. "I know you're a prince and everything, but..."

Their waiter, Luigi, strolled up to the table with his memo pad in hand.

"Marth? Roy? What brings you guys here?"

Roy closed his menu then, knowing exactly what he wanted - something cheap so his poor wallet wouldn't be raped. "Celebration."

Luigi nodded. "I think Peachie told me something about you taking Marth out for his birthday. How romantic! Anyway, what can I get you?"

So Roy gave his order to Luigi - nothing special, of course, just a plate of spaghetti with meat sauce and salad - and motioned for Marth to give his.

Of course Marth wanted steak with egg noodles drowning in gravy with a side of mashed potatoes - also drowning in gravy, because Marth had a thing with having gravy on everything he ever ate. Before Luigi collected their menus, Roy found out how much it cost.

_Fifty five dollars_, was all his mind screamed at him. Like neon lights blinking on a swanky eatery front.

Naturally, to Roy's dismay - and his wallet's horror - that didn't include drinks (a Mountain Dew for Roy and red wine for the boyfriend) or the tip.

_Thank Elimine I'm having Peach bake him a cake_, Roy thought. _Otherwise I'd have a heart attack at the dessert prices. Those cake slices they offer here better be sprinkled with gold for that price._

-x-

"What're you baking, Peachie?" Mario asked, sliding up behind the princess. "It smells delicioso!"

Peach giggled softly as she drummed her fingers against the countertop, waiting for the frozen frosting to defrost in the microwave. Maybe Nana and Popo liked icicles hanging off of all their edible objects, but no one else shared their peculiar tastes.

"A cake," she replied, after which the microwave _ding_ed.

"For who?" Mario asked, quirking an eyebrow. Sure, Peach often baked seven tiered cakes for no reason other than she was bored, but she never seemed so intent as she did today.

"Prince Marth," she replied softly, opening the microwave screwed in under the cereal cabinet. "Roy requested it special and swore me to secrecy."

The frosting, now pliable, was scooped onto a frosting knife and slathered onto the golden brown exterior of the cake's first layer, taken out a few minutes earlier to cool. It didn't look exactly like a cake yet, but if given a few minutes, it would end up looking too good to _be_ a cake.

"You just spilled the secret then, Peachie," Mario stated, straightening out his moustache.

"I was sworn to not tell Marth about it. He's not expecting something like this to happen."

"How is Roy going to eat it if he dislikes sweets?"

Peach now had the first layer covered in frosting and bent down to retrieve the second one.

"Oh I'm sure he'll make an exception for tonight. It _is_ a special occasion that only comes around once a year."

Link, who sped into the kitchen at that moment, answered, "Christmas?"

Peach continued covering the cake in delicious chocolate frosting, ignoring Link's outburst.

"It's not even December!" Mario said, turning to look at the Hylian.

"Where's the ramen?" Link asked, tearing through the cabinets. "I must have ramen for my World of Warcraft marathon!"

"In the pantry," she replied.

Link sped off into the pantry, found his "cup o' noodles" chicken flavoured ramen, and procurred the nearest (and only) microwave. Shoving it in there hastily, he slammed the door of the appliance and waited impatiently.

"Chopsticks are in the drawer," Peach said, gesturing to the drawer directly underneath the microwave. Link nearly ripped the drawer out, almost got impaled by a fork, and came out victorious, chopsticks in hand, just as his ramen was ready.

Almost knocking it out of the microwave and onto the floor, he ran up the stairs to his room. World of Warcraft was _serious business_.

-x-

"...and that's how you get the circumference of a cylinder," Ness finished, a smug look on his face. Young Link blinked a couple of times, hoping to find the English translation of Ness's ramble cross his vision.

"And that has to do with finding the slope-intercept _how_?" Young Link question, his head dipping below his shoulders in an exaggerated attempt to show he did not comprehend.

Ness blinked and then looked back at Young Link's homework.

"...I thought you took Geometry!"

Young Link shut the book and stood, homework in hand. "...I think I'll just...ask Popo for his homework." Backing out of the room slowly, he ran far, far away from the baseball cap-wearing genius in search of Popo.

_What the heck is a 'cylinder'?_ Young Link thought. _I don't think Hyrule has cylinders, whatever they are. I should ask Zelda._

Walking past Popo's room, he walked past the stairs that led to the first floor and took the other fork, the fork leading to the girls' dorms. He wanted answers on Ness's ramblings, and help on his goddess-forsaken homework for a teacher he despised anyway.

-x-

Roy twirled his spaghetti around his fork as he took his surroundings in. So many people dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns, wearing expensive jewelry and equally expensive cologne. Exquisitely carpeted floors and even _silk table linens_. There was nothing cheap about Un Ristorante Costoso - whatever that name meant in English, Roy didn't know. The service was excellent, of course that was probably due to Luigi being their waiter that evening, and the food...it was as good as Peach's, and she was an excellent cook. The atmosphere was nothing short of romantic, with lit candles on the table and that cozy air about the place. All of this fit for royalty - and rightfully so.

"So what made you choose this place?" Roy asked, lifting his fork from his plate, pasta with it.

Marth couldn't talk right away, due to it being impolite to talk and eat at the same time, and Roy waited patiently for him to finish.

"It was actually...the first place I visited when I first came here," Marth admitted. "A few of us got together and had a nice dinner... I thought it would be a good place to go."

Roy discreetly slurped a stray noodle into his mouth, a habit he picked up since he began eating ramen, before switching back over to his salad. The lettuce leaves crunched as the tines on the fork stabbed into them.

"That's actually quite romantic," Roy replied, sliding the lettuce off his fork with his teeth. He tried so hard to not laugh at Marth trying to eat his completely-covered-in-gravy mashed potatoes with his fork, almost giving him his spoon instead to use.

"That was the whole point of this endeavour, was it not?"

Roy hadn't forgotten about that at all as he leaned his arm across the table. "No one would know you were a prince by your eating skills right now." Using his thumb, he wiped off excess gravy from Marth's cheek and then licked it off. Marth flushed by such a gesture and then wiped the rest of his face off with his napkin.

"Does Altea not have gravy or something, dearest Marth?" It would explain why Marth had to pour so much on his food. Or anything edible, for that matter. Roy sincerely hoped he wouldn't request gravy for his cake. _Prayed_, even. It was like the Ice Climbers and their obsession with freezing everything.

Marth almost choked on his covered-in-gravy noodles.

"Altea does have gravy," Marth replied. "I just...like it on everything. Like Link and ketchup and you with barbecue sauce."

And so Marth devoured the rest of his meal whilst Roy watched in utter fascination at how _hot_ he could make steak look. He was so fascinated, in fact, that he almost missed the cheque being delivered in a small and very much silver tray. Quickly taking it before Marth could see any of the numbers on it, his eyes scanned it in search of the circled dinner total. After calculating the cost of the tip, he took out his wallet, his shiny credit card, and placed it in the tray Luigi took minutes later from the table.

"So how much was it?" Marth asked five minutes later when Roy's card was returned to him.

Roy glanced at him from the corner of his eye as he opened the door to the restaurant, closing his wallet and pocketing it as they left.

"You know better than to ask that," Roy chided. "It doesn't matter how much it cost. It was completely worth it because you were happy."

Marth, out of habit, escorted Roy to the passenger's side of the car and opened it for him.

"Even all boozed up you're still the perfect gentleman," Roy teased as Marth closed the door on him. Moving around to the driver's side, Marth slid into the car gracefully, closed the door, and gunned the ignition.

"I only had one and a half glasses," Marth replied. "That hardly qualifies as 'all boozed up'. And buckle up, I don't want a seventy five dollar ticket."

Roy clicked his seatbelt into place as Marth drove out of the parking spot, driving just a little too fast for Roy's tastes. It wasn't as bad as that one time Roy accepted a ride from Falcon, but it was close.

"Maybe I should've driven us home," Roy said, grimacing when they almost ran a stop sign.

"And then I would get a summons for you not holding a license," Marth replied. "I'm _fine_. We don't even live that far away."

Roy thanked the Eight Legends for that small fact. He would rather crash and burn in the Manse's driveway than five blocks away from it.

-x-

Marth placed his keys on the key rack by the front door and looked around. It was unusual for the normally-as-loud-as-a-rock-concert first floor to sound so...empty. In the distance, Roy swore he heard someone swearing and shouting things like, "WE WILL RETAKE THE MOLTEN CORE!"

"Where is everyone?" Marth asked, loosening his tie. "I feel like I'm in a funeral home."

"I dunno," Roy lied, knowing full well where the majority of the people were. "Let's check the kitchen."

Marth followed the red head across the hall and into the darkened kitchen.

"I know Master Hand is cheap, but do the lights in all the rooms _have_ to be off?" the Prince of Altea asked, flipping the switch on the wall.

"Oh hey, a cake!" Roy pointed to the kitchen counter and saw a chocolate frosting-covered cake there, tempting all who gazed upon it to eat it.

"Typical of Peach," Marth replied. "What's different this time?"

Roy latched onto Marth's arm and dragged the nineteen year old closer to the dessert.

"This," Roy said, sneaking a taste at the frosting, "is part one of my gift." Oh, he looked so triumphant, so proud of himself. Marth obviously suspected nothing as the prince inspected the baked good.

"How did you know chocolate was my favourite?" Marth threw Roy a suspicious look as he too tasted the frosting.

Roy grinned. "Because it's _everyone's_ favourite. But Link let it slip to me once or twice, and no matter where we go, you always have chocolate. So I just put it all together."

Roy neatly cut a piece and gave Marth the honour of having the first bite. Roy had no idea how he ended up against the counter embroiled in a passionate kiss-fest, nor did he really remember how he ended up in their bedroom still clutching that damn slice of cake. (It was good cake, Roy had to admit. Too good to let go.)

-x-

**Author's Note:** Only twenty six days since I posted the last chapter. That's...three more than it took for me to finish the previous chapter. So, what did you guys think?

It seems like everyone has an obsession with putting condiments on all food or something. Link and Pikachu both love ketchup on everything, Roy like barbecue sauce, Marth has a thing with gravy... Not to mention the Ice Climbers like freezer burn on their stuff.

But this stuff is all considered normal according to the Manse. Weird.

I promise I'll finish the next chapter as soon as I can! Stay tuned!


	15. Chapter 15

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Fifteen-**

**Warnings:** Sex. Not the implied kind that I've alluded to in the past, either. And swearing, if you're against that kind of thing.

Roy woke up the next day at noon, sunlight filling the room, making the walls more yellow and the carpet even dustier than it normally looked. There on his nightstand, to Roy's utter amusement, was that same slice of cake Marth had taken a bite out of last night, fork and all, begging for Roy to finish it. He shifted in the bed, aware that Marth was right next to him and sleeping peacefully. Sitting up a little, he kissed Marth's cheek, trailing down to his jaw, to his neck, and then to Marth's already-bitten-enough collarbone, Roy's favourite spot of all due to Marth being so sensitive there. Marth stirred, his hands seeking for his lover's frame, and pulled Roy closer.

"You just can't get enough of me, can you?" Marth whispered in between Roy's kisses. Roy chuckled then, moving under the sheets so that he was on top of Marth, his kisses becoming more heavy, more forceful. Marth didn't mind, however, he simply kissed him back with equal fervor, equal need. His fingers entwined themselves into Roy's hair as he gasped, which spurred Roy on more, causing the red head to trail kisses down Marth's torso, past his navel...

Marth's grip on Roy's hair tightened, his muscles tensed, and he couldn't help but stutter Roy's name, one syllable turning into three simply because Roy was just _so good_.

"D-Don't," Marth begged when Roy stopped. "R-Roy..."

Roy had no plans on stopping as he kissed Marth again, receiving no objection from Marth as his tongue swept through his mouth.

"What do you want me to do, Marthy?" Roy asked, his voice low and sultry-like, their lips barely touching. He straddled Marth's waist and ground his hip into Marth's; being able to touch Roy and yet not able to do anything to him was driving Marth insane as he hooked his arms under Roy's.

"Anything," Marth replied, nearly breathless from his attempts to not just molest Roy right then and there. Roy reached under the bed for the usual 'supplies'. Marth would rather go nuts from sexual frustration than do it without some sort of lubricant, he said once, and Roy didn't want Marth howling from pain, either. The last thing either of them wanted was Link to burst into the room and see them in such a compromising position.

"Don't you worry, Marth," Roy said, emphasising every syllable, "I'll make sure you're taken care of."

The few minutes it took for Roy to go about the usual routine seemed like hours for Marth, who was ready to jump Roy if he didn't hurry up.

"How do you want me to do this?" Roy asked, kneeling between Marth's legs, Marth's hips raised due to Roy's knees propping his waist up. Marth, who was barely able to put a coherent thought together aside from _Just fuck me already!_, took a little longer to answer Roy's question.

"I don't _care_," Marth replied. "Just _do it already_."

_How demanding_, Roy thought. _I should make him wait because of it_. Roy wasn't that cruel, however, and he had his own needs to tend to as well as Marth's - Roy wasn't going to wait much longer either.

All reason fled Marth's mind five seconds later, every nerve ending in his body tingling from such pleasure, such bliss, that he couldn't help but cry out from the intensity. Roy hissed as he leaned over Marth, his arms on either side of Marth's shoulders supporting his weight as his hips bucked hard against Marth's. Every single thrust caused Marth to lose that much more control over his actions, caused some sort of feeling build up in what seemed like the very core of his being. Marth found himself meeting Roy's thrusts more and more, his desire building more and more, almost taking complete control of him now. He clawed at Roy's back and nearly bit into Roy's shoulder from the intensity of the feelings threatening to drown him.

Roy grunted a little from Marth's actions, his lips seeking Marth's neck, nipping at the pale flesh there, as Marth tugged on his hair again, whimpering with need. Marth curled one leg around Roy's, pulling him in more, his whisperings gibberish and his bucking bordering on animalistic. Roy captured Marth's lips, silencing Marth's incoherent ramblings for Roy to "just fuck me harder", the kiss itself filled with nothing but pure, unadulterated lust as Roy sent Marth over the edge, the waves of pleasure crashing down over him hard. Marth shuddered and tensed as Roy nipped at Marth's swollen lips. Marth held Roy close to him and almost bit Roy's tongue a little harder than he intended to. Roy reached his peak shortly after, giving one final thrust before going higher than he felt before.

And then they came crashing back down to the planet. Roy's arms wobbled before they finally gave out. He wasn't much heavier than Marth, so it wasn't like he crushed him under his weight. Roy's knees had also given out, and so he was sprawled out on the bed in a semi-awkward position.

"Best sex ever, yes/no?" Roy muttered in between gasps for air.

Marth kissed Roy's forehead and rested his chin against Roy's hair. "Y-Yes."

-x-

Since it was such a lovely day out, Peach decided that lunch would be served in the yard on the picnic tables. Tying her hair up into a ponytail, she removed the top part of her apron and brought two big plates of food to the tables a few feet away. She decided a barbecue would be best, since the mess was minimal. On the platters were burger patties on buns, with cheese slices on the other half in case someone didn't want it. She placed them on the table and went back to get the various items one could put on their lunch, like sliced onions, pickles...the works. It was a good thing Zelda helped her set things up initially, like the condiments, else it would take forever to cart thirty pounds of mayonnaise, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and mustard to the table with only two hands to do so.

Fox rubbed his hands together in glee at the sheer amount of food as he saw Peach bring out a plate of hot dogs and their respective toppings. Falco squawked in delight as he took his usual place, and Fox followed, practically salivating at the wonderful smell of chicken being grilled.

"Where's the fire?" Roy asked, running after Link from the training grounds. "Link! Wait a minute!"

Link stopped abruptly, causing Roy to plow into him. The Hero of Time pointed at the picnic tables, his eyes fixed on the food planted on top of them.

"So Peach cooked barbecue. It's not an unusual sight or anything," Roy replied, a little disappointed. He scanned the yard for any sign of a tall nineteen year old with blue hair and found one sitting at the tables, near the middle.

"But look at all the food!" Link remarked as Roy dragged him to the tables. "It's...it's _beautiful_."

"For the love of King Roland, Link, you're sounding like _Kirby_!"

The aforementioned pink puffball jumped onto the table and was overwhelmed. To Kirby, this was a sort of heaven, and the dreamy look in his blue eyes confirmed such wonder as such.

"Growing up in Kokiri Forest," Link began, as he always did when explaining his weird mannerisms, "we didn't have--"

"I know," Roy interrupted, grabbing a plate from the end of the table, nearest the grill. "You didn't have much food except fruits and various nuts. So tell me something, Link - what _did_ you have? You don't have doors or normal food or bathrooms or...much of anything, really."

Link was piling all sorts of things onto his burger, already balancing another plate on his right forearm with various side dishes.

"...As you said. We didn't have much of anything. There weren't even a lot of people."

Roy accosted the barbecue sauce and took it with him to his seat, where Marth had just begun eating his vegetarian burger. Roy always thought it was a little odd for Marth to eat everything one section at a time, but he never asked him about it. Perhaps in Altea, he reasoned, royalty ate in such a way. He always mixed his food together, even though his retainer Marcus scolded him for it. He sat down and Link followed suit across the table, almost dropping everything onto the grass in the process.

Roy poured a ton of barbecue sauce on his cheeseburger so that the bun could no longer absorb any more of it and it oozed out of the sides a little. On top of the barbecue sauce were six pickles, raw onions, and barbecue flavoured crisps. Slapping on the drenched bun, the crisps went _crunch_. In short, Roy made a big huge mess on the picnic table. Not that Link was any better. He had the usual fare on a cheeseburger, with a side of potato salad, cole slaw, and macaroni salad. However, all passers-by wrinkled their noses when they saw Link slather some ketchup on the otherwise-delicious confections of barbecue side dishes. Not even Marth's penchant for a little gravy on his burger was heralded as disgusting compared to that.

"So after lunch we're supposed to head over to the Academy," Link said, combining all three of his side dishes on his plate, adding more ketchup, and stirred it all together in a pinkish mash. As he did this, he also took a huge bite from his burger.

Roy, who had more table manners than Link seemed to have, asked, "Why? It's Sunday - we're off."

"For our eighth and sixth period exams, of course."

"Why don't they just wait until Monday?" Marth questioned, separating his coleslaw from his potato salad. "They'd only have to wait one more day."

"Yeah, but then we'd be finishing exams the same day as graduation," Link answered. "And, according to Crazy's logic, that's a no-no."

Peach came over with a plate of grilled chicken and set it down on the table. A few seats down, Kirby happily munched on about three of the delicious poultry legs, leaving a very pissed of Falco to sulk by Fox over the loss of his lunch. Link eagerly reached for the marinated-in-BBQ-sauce drumsticks and snatched two, placing them beside his burger and disgusting concoction of macaroni-potato-coleslaw-salad. Like everything else on Link's plate, he marinated it in ketchup.

"You and Pikachu should form a club," Roy remarked. "The 'We Worship Ketchup' club or some such."

Link bit into his chicken leg and munched viciously on it, his hatred for cuccos fueling such violence.

"If I understood a damn thing he said--" Link had another chunk ripped from the bone with his teeth "--we totally _would_ have such a club."

Roy thought the food was proficient enough in his favourite sauce and dug in himself, alternating between that and his burger with his sauce-drenched fingers. It honestly looked like both Link and Roy murdered someone with their bare hands, an idea that creeped Marth out just a bit as he dabbed at him mouth with a napkin.

"You guys have fun with your exams," Marth said after swallowing more of his veggie burger. "I'll just be sitting here, relaxing..."

Roy poked Marth's cheek with a sticky finger, his other hand still holding the half-finished drumstick, and made a line with it.

"You'll be thinking of me the whole time I'm gone, won't you, Marthy?" Roy was drawing a circle now, so Marth grabbed Roy's wrist and pulled his messy fingers off him.

"Of course." Making sure that Roy wouldn't claw at his arm or anything next, he wiped his face off with his already-messied-enough napkin and continued eating his vegetarian food. It wasn't that he was really a vegetarian, per sé - he just thought it tasted better.

"Will you miss _me_, Marthy?" Link asked, licking his fingers. Roy threw one of the many cloth napkins at the blond.

"Don't lick your fingers, Link, that's just gross," Roy scolded, wiping his own on his napkin.

"...Is there a reason I should miss you, Link?" Marth answered with a question instead of a straight answer.

"Yes," Link replied, sounding offended. "I'm like, your best friend! We go back a long ways. I just wanna know if you think about me."

Marth really had no reason to think about Link during the day, or any reason to really miss him.

"I've only known you since last year," Marth corrected. "And I really have no reason to think about you."

Link looked crushed, downtrodden. "That's just like when you said you hate being called 'Marthy'."

Marth loosely folded his napkin back up and left it next to his plate, his lunch finished.

"I do," Marth replied.

"And yet that guy over right there next to you calls you that all the time!"

Marth looked beside him and pointed at Ness with his thumb. "Ness? He doesn't call me 'Marthy'."

Link sighed and pointed an accusative finger at the red head on Marth's left. "Red."

Roy, who just finished his delicious burger, placed both elbows on the table, his arms crossed at the wrists.

"Well duh," Roy replied. "I'm his boyfriend. I gave him the nickname."

"Nu-uh," Link objected, standing now, napkin crushed against the table surface. He was still pointing accusingly at the general. "_I_ came up with the nickname last year, before you two became lovers or whatever!"

Roy stood as well and chucked his dirtied hand towel at the Hylian. "Let's go, Link. School time." Link removed the sauce-stained towel from his already-dirty white-and-green t-shirt, threw it on the picnic bench, and stalked off, only stopping to thank Peach for the lovely lunch.

When Link was a reasonable distance away, Roy kissed Marth innocently enough on the mouth, waved goodbye, and skipped off to get dressed in the Academy's required uniform.

-x-

"I am going to kill myself," Link said as they ventured up the stairs to the fourth floor.

"Why's that?" Roy asked, hands in his pockets as they walked the semi-crowded halls. Link almost slipped on the recently-waxed flooring but managed to regain his footing.

"Whaddya _mean_ 'why's that'?" Link stepped in front of the red head then, arms outstretched. "Hello?! The Bio exam!"

Roy shrugged. He didn't see what the big deal was about. "Just...try your hardest and hope for the best."

Roy slid the door to the classroom open and ushered Link inside, a little nervous about the exam himself. However, unlike Link, Roy was doing decent in the class. Mr. Game and Watch also liked him, whereas Link always fell asleep in his class, so his chances of passing were within his grasp. They took their usual seats in the middle of the class, right next to each other. There were four other people sitting in their class doing pretty much nothing, just waiting for the horror to end and for school to let out for the summer.

"Doomed," Link began, his forehead banging against the desk edge. "_Doomed_."

Roy sighed and twirled his pencil idly in his fingers. He could do something like that and not worry about flinging Marth's tiara halfway across the room, like that once incident last year in Mewtwo's Japanese class. There was a substitute teacher there, who didn't understand that a dry-erase board wasn't supposed to be written on in Sharpie, and mistakenly referred to Marth as a girl, even though the seating chart said, "Mr. Lowell" on it. In fact, that substitute teacher reminded him a lot of Marth's homeroom teacher. They shared the same kind of dense-ness. That was the day after that retarded test Mewtwo made them take to see how well they knew each other.

_What a bunch of bullshit that all was_, Roy thought.

Link was still smacking his head against the desk when the two dimensional teacher came waltzing through the door, beeping happily with a stack of papers in his hand.

_This whole idea of coming into school at one thirty in the afternoon is a bunch of bullocks_.

-x-

"So who are the newcomers going to be?" the soon-to-be-principal asked, tapping his fingers against the recently-Pledged desk. Master Hand gave the figure a stack of folders to peruse.

"It's all in there, Tabuu."

Tabuu looked through the files, saying each name aloud, his smirk becoming bigger and bigger.

"Ike Paris Troy of Tellius, general of Greil Mercenaries. Seventeen years old, senior." Tabuu threw the folder down onto the desk and peered into the next one.

"...What kind of name is 'Pit'?" He threw that one down on top of Ike's. "Lucas Alexander. At least _that's_ a normal name..."

Master Hand shifted from one finger to the next. "We have a new security guard as well. Snake is what he seems to go by. I've heard he's very good at what he does, so..."

Tabuu didn't really care. "When do I start as the principal of Melee Academy?"

Master Hand would have smiled if he were attached to his body. "This coming September."

Tabuu nodded and grinned in a sinister manner. "Very well then. You will not regret this decision."

Master Hand turned to float through the door, but stopped short right before it. "And before I forget... If you destroy what I strived so hard to build... I will break you like a twig."

Master Hand didn't know what he was planning, did he? Tabuu cleared his throat and nodded emphatically.

"I wouldn't be able to destroy such an empire as Melee Academy, Mr. R. Hand."

_That you know of_, Tabuu added in mentally, pressing his fingers together with a smirk on his face.

-x-

"I don't _know_ what the answer is anymore!" Link shouted, hands over his elven ears as he stared blankly at the exam sheet. "I wish I wasn't such a complete failure!"

Mr. Game and Watch beeped a few menacing things that did nothing to shut Link up.

"I don't even understand what you're saying!" Tears were rolling down his face, tears of frustration.

"Link, shut up!" Roy yelled, ready to throw his exam at the blond. "Be a complete failure in silence!"

Link sobbed as he randomly filled in answers. It wasn't like he was going to amount to much in life anyway.

_I regret growing up in a forest sheltered from civilisation for ten years of my life_, Link thought.

"Why am I the only left handed person in this class?" Link cried, throwing his exam at the instructor, pencil and all.

"Because you're different," Roy replied. "Now _shut up_ before I go and retrieve the Sword of Seals and slice your throat open!" Roy was clearly under a lot of stress, and Link was only making it worse.

So Link twirled a strand of golden blond hair and lamented on how sad his life turned out to be. Where did being the Hero of Time land him? _Nowhere_. And the pay sucked to boot.

"Will those birds just _shut up_?" one student asked, slamming his pencil down as he turned in his seat at the lab table to face the back window. He shook his fist at the window, where two lovebirds were perched, one nuzzling the other's feathers with its beak.

"Hey, don't blame the birds for your stupidity!" Gary Stu Wesker said, looking at the student angrily from his seat a few stools down.

"How about I cage them up so your father can inject them with _T-Virus_, huh, Wesker?" the student, Jordan, shouted, positioning his pencil like a dagger about to stab someone in the back.

Gary Stu Wesker winced and bit his lip. He hated the fact that his father's experiments were so well known.

"How about I take the Sword of Seals," Roy said, voice dangerously low as he slowly turned in his seat to look at the two students, "and--" Roy's voice got progressively higher with each word, emphasising them "--_shove. it. up. your asses_?!"

Roy jumped from his seat and onto the lab table where Gary and Jordan were, looking like he was about to strangle either of them.

"Just because you can't concentrate," another student from the front of the room said, "doesn't mean everyone else can't! Now shut up or I will report you to the president of SGA!"

All three majorly pissed off students turned to face the front-row student, Orlando.

"Like I give a shit about your wimpy Student Government president!" Jordan yelled, rolling his sleeve up.

"You should! He's the most powerful guy in this whole school!" Orlando cried, standing up from his seat, exam forgotten.

"Pshaw, like I care about your tiara-wearing princess."

_Tiara-wearing princess_? Roy thought. _**Tiara-wearing princess**_?_ Oh that does it..._

Mr. Game and Watch blooped at the red headed general to get off Jordan, but Link merely patted the two dimensional person on the paper-thin head and said, "It's not worth it."

No one called Marth a 'tiara-wearing princess' and got away with it unscathed.

-x-

Back at The Manse, the sounds of chainsaws and wood being hammered filled the air. Pichu awoke abruptly from his place in Marth's lap, taking a moment to sniff the book left agape in the sleeping prince's lap before bounding off. He didn't like the noise as much as the next complaining Manse resident.

"What's all that noise next door?" Samus asked, shoving the helmet of her power suit over her head to drown it out. "How am I supposed to train for the tournament this September if I can't concentrate?"

Falcon, her training partner, nodded in agreement, his helmet over his head as well.

Many disturbed Manse residents were crowding around Master Hand's floating form, some with their arms crossed, others had theirs on their hips...some were taking Falco's example and throwing him rude hand gestures.

"Well," Master Hand's voice echoed naturally, pinky finger resting against the end of the stair banister. "There is some construction going on next door."

"So we noticed," said Fox sarcastically, hand on the holster of his blaster rifle. "What for?"

"Well," Master Hand repeated, "we're getting new neighbours. From...from across town."

No one said anything, the silence punctuated by more sawing noises.

"From the _ghetto_?" Falco asked, looking at the Hand in disbelief.

"Now, Falco," Fox reasoned, "they're probably not as bad as you think..." He knew Falco could be a bit prejudiced, but not _that_ much.

"Hah! I'd like to see someone prove me wrong, then!" the humanoid-bird replied, crossing his wings and sneering.

"You'd best get used to The Parthenon being there," the floating right hand interrupted. "I was going to wait until September to tell you all this, but..."

Master Hand paused for suspense. "Well, I should wait for the other Smashers to return home. We shall have a meeting after dinner to discuss this."

Before anyone could utter an objection, the hand floated up the stairs and disappeared from sight.

"What'd I miss?" a very late Marth asked, fixing his hair as he stopped beside Zelda. "Why is everyone congregated here? Did something happen?"

"Meeting after dinner," Zelda replied. "Master Hand wants to discuss something with us." She smoothed down a stubborn lock of hair before Marth could do anything, and patted his cheek lightly. "Napping, were you?

Marth grinned sheepishly. That was all Zelda needed to see to know that, yes, Marth was napping when he was supposed to be doing other things. Like getting dressed to take his Japanese exam.

-x-

"Good job, Roy, we're almost late for our Japanese exam!"

The crappily painted walls of the school building became one monotonous blur as Roy and Link ran as fast as they could to room 221 before the bell rang.

"Well, if that guy didn't start something, we would've gotten out of there sooner!" Roy rounded the final corner, Link almost crashing into him as Roy skidded, almost losing his footing in the process as he made his way down the final stretch of hall. Wall hangings were nearly ripped off the inch wide strip of cork-board trim from their combined speed. The room was in sight, just a little farther...

Link ran into the classroom and turned to the side, trying desperately to stop in time, but instead nearly crashed through the wall and out the window. Roy skidded past the classroom and almost to the end of the hallway, his heart nearly beating out of his chest as he made his way back, this time crashing into the alcove surrounding the doorway. Mewtwo watched with stoic amusement at the red head's final attempt to come through the door.

_Crash_.

"Oh sweet Durandal, I think one of the chair legs is up my--"

"What the hell is going on here?" Stephen asked, stopping in the doorway, Nicholas and Gary behind him. They were peeking over his shoulder and into the classroom so they could see the carnage Link and Roy caused. Link's legs and arms flailed as he tried to wiggle back into the classroom, the majority of his torso hanging out of the window. He saw the concrete at the entrances to the stadium and became even more panicked, for he would crash into _that_ if he fell... Students were looking up at him and pointing, some even shouting words of concern, for they thought Link was trying to commit suicide from exams.

As for Roy, he flipped over his desk, knocked his chair over, and ended up with the leg of the chair next to him practically up his posterior; instead it merely bruised his tail bone, which was just as painful as having something forcefully shoved up his rear. He whimpered from the pain, his one hand on the seat of his chair, his other on the leg of the desk behind him, his legs splayed out on the floor.

"You know," Mewtwo said, filling in a crossword puzzle in _The Nintendo Land Times_, "perhaps it would be great if you helped Mr. Mekkai back into the classroom before he falls to his death."

Stephen, Nicholas, and Gary stood under the door frame for a moment more before registering what Mewtwo said. Stephen and Nicholas ran over to the window and grabbed Link by his legs as the blond screamed bloody murder. He was afraid they were going to push him _out_ the window.

"One," Stephen said, bracing a foot against the radiator under the window.

"Two," Nicholas continued on, bracing his back against the heater as he gripped Link's pant leg.

"Three!" they both shouted, and yanked on Link - hard - sending all three of them crashing onto the floor in a heap, Link the most grateful since he was, well, dangling out of a window.

Gary was still in the doorway when Kweenetra and Marth arrived, the former with her Japanese textbook held across her lap, the latter carrying his blazer over his shoulder, his fore- and middle fingers hooked where the tag would normally be. If it were a cartoon, the chairs and desk on the floor would have been on fire from the collision, and Link would have fallen out of the window and made a Link-shaped dent in the concrete.

Kweenetra casually and very nonchalantly stepped over Roy and walked to her desk in the back row, ignoring the scene that unfolded before her arrival. Something similar happened in her Latin class yesterday, except someone actually fell through the window, a desk was set on fire, and someone else ended up with a papercut in their carotid artery somehow. It didn't bother her one bit - things like that happened at least once a day in Melee Academy.

It was no wonder why Master Hand got a new headmaster. Crazy Hand just let anything happen without a care in the world.

"Can somebody help me?" Roy asked, holding up his hand and waving it about. "I've fallen and I can't get up!"

Marth kicked away the fallen objects and grasped Roy's hand; he pulled him up off the floor and over so he could properly catch Roy.

"Thank you," Roy said, and then did a double take. "Hey, why're you here?"

Marth up-righted the desk and chairs as Gary had a panic attack over the carnage by the window.

"Apparently I'm not exempt from my Japanese exam," he answered, slipping into his blazer. "I think Mewtwo forgot to send in the exemption forms."

Mewtwo glared at Marth and said, "That's Mewtwo-_sama_ to you, weakling."

"All right, Mewtwo-_sensei_," Marth retorted. "Why am I not exempt from a class I have all A pluses in?"

Mewtwo threw his newspaper down onto his messy desk, sat up in his chair, and wanted so much to use Disable on Marth so he could pummel him to the floor.

"Because I _didn't feel like it_," Mewtwo answered. "And I hate you, you make my life miserable, and you're always so lovey-dovey! You probably don't even know _what_ you are, and why would you leave a wife at home only to do your best friend? Are you nuts--"

Marth merely stood there, slowly raised an eyebrow, and backed away from the ranting Psychic Pokemon.

"Err, that's _great_ and all, sensei," Kweenetra said, standing as she chomped on a pocky stick, "but I'd really like to get this exam over and done with, so if you could please _shut the frig up_ and hand them out, I'd appreciate it." She sat back down, one hand in her lap, the other one the stick of pocky.

Mewtwo stopped mid-sentence, his mouth agape and his eyes yellow as he lifted a desk over his head. The desk went crashing to the floor and splintered into pieces and he closed his mouth. She had a point.

"I hope you all fail," Mewtwo said in a good-natured way as he handed out the exams. "Die in a fire and don't bother me." He sat back down in his chair, angrily ruffled the pages of his crossword, and set back to doing his work. Link, Stephen, and Nicholas, who were now off the floor by this point, took their seats. Stephen clicked his mechanical pencil and began working, whilst Nicholas and Gary Stu Wesker were trying to see who could go blind first from inhaling pencil shavings. Link stared at his test blankly and banged his head against the wall to his right.

_Why is it that I don't know anything on _any _of my exams_?

Roy and Marth, however, worked diligently on their exam.

_What the hell does this section even _say? Roy thought, staring blankly at the third section of the exam. He looked to Marth, who seemed to have the same exact question on his mind.

"No sweet nothings or colluding," Mewtwo said lazily, filling in 'sharpie' as the answer for number nine across.

Roy scowled and went back to his exam. He decided to just guess on the questions in that section since, no matter which way he looked at it, it was gibberish to him.

_Roland, as your descendant, please don't have me fail this exam_, Roy prayed as he went on to section four. At the same time, Marth was praying as well.

_Saint Akaneia, if you can hear me, please grant me the knowledge to know what the hell this even means_.

-x-

"A-Are our exams done yet?" Link asked when the bell rang. He shivered and buttoned his blazer up as much as he could, freezing. "Do they _have_ to have the air conditioning as far down as it can go?"

Roy linked his arm with Marth's and leaned against him as they walked. "Yep, that was our last examination. As for the air conditioning, I didn't even know MH had it on."

"They have the air on?" Marth asked. "Huh. I didn't notice, either."

Link looked at them like they were freaks. "You know, in Kokiri Forest..."

"Here we go," Roy murmured, more to Marth's shoulder than anything else. Marth chuckled.

"...We didn't have it very cold! It was nice and warm because of the trees we lived in."

Roy snorted. "You guys lived in _tree houses_?"

Link nodded. "Of course. Why, don't you guys?"

Roy looked at Marth, who looked back at Roy, each of their faces mirroring the same look of amusement.

"I live in a castle," Roy said. "So does Marth. Although I did have a tree house in the courtyard when I was five..."

"I never had such a thing," Marth commented. "I didn't know people could even live _in_ trees."

Link harumphed and crossed his arms. They just didn't understand him, it seemed. Then again, Zelda didn't understand how the Kokiri lived in trees, either...

"So where're we going from here?" the Hero of Time asked, placing his arms behind his head now.

"I'm going home," Roy said, covering up a yawn. "I have to stay after school, though, tomorrow, so I won't be able to plan anything, so I need sleep."

Link's curiosity was piqued. "Oh?"

"Roy's in Band," Marth answered. "Tomorrow's graduation, so the band has to be there for it."

Well that wasn't very exciting, at least to Link it wasn't. "Oh." There went that curiosity.

"You _will_ be coming to graduation tomorrow, right?" Roy asked. "'Cause you know, Marth's graduating and all..."

Link nodded absentmindedly. "Huh. Is that so?" Link unexpectedly latch himself onto Marth, who yelped in surprise from the sudden contact.

"Link, what the hell do you--"

"Oh Marthy, I'm gonna miss you sosososo_so_ much!" Link nuzzled Marth's arm, even, which was creeping the Prince of Altea out. Roy, who was on the other side of Marth, couldn't see what Link was doing, and wasn't too sure he wanted to find out.

"Cease and desist!" Marth screamed, trying to wrench his arm free. He then said something in Altean that neither Roy nor Link understood the meaning of. Roy was pretty sure it meant "get off me" since it was similar to the Sacaean word for such.

Link, who was now staring at the back of Marth's head for some unknown reason, made a noise that sounded like he solved a Rubik's Cube for the first time.

"So _that_'s how your tiara stays on your head." Link was even pushing Marth's hair aside to get a better look, a gesture that irked Marth to no end. Link wasn't just touching his hair - which was a definite _no-no_ unless your name was Roy, he was _moving_ it. And if he didn't cut it out, Marth would have a panic attack, because that was the way it went.

"Huh. That's interesting," the Hylian remarked, removing his hands from Marth's otherwise perfect hair. The not-in-place clump of hair that normally covered the back part of the diadem was sticking out every which way. Marth gingerly felt it and felt his body tense.

"Link, you fink!" Roy said, staring at his now twitching boyfriend go into a panic attack. "You should know better than to touch his hair!"

Before Link could say anything, Marth had sped off to the nearest restroom to fix his messed up locks. Roy had taken the liberty of smacking the blond upside the head as punishment.

-x-

Link and Roy leaned against the beige-coloured tile on the bathroom walls as they waited for Marth to finish fixing his hair. Link yawned loudly and received a nudge from Roy's elbow in return for it. He noticed Marth's tiara on the sink as Marth combed his hair yet again, making sure that nothing was sticking out for the sixth time.

"You look so _weird_," Link said, sliding slowly down the bathroom wall and onto the grey vinyl flooring. "Weird seeing you without your tiara."

"It's a _diadem_," Roy corrected, looking at his watch. "A tiara is something that prom queens wear. Or the thing Peach wears."

"So Marth's thing is like the thing Zellie wears?"

"Yes."

"So then what's the thing _you_ wear?" Link asked, still on the floor watching Marth carefully unhook the back of his _diadem_ and place it carefully in his hair, making adjustments as necessary.

Roy kicked a wad of toilet paper around from his place against the wall. "A circlet."

Link blinked thrice before asking, "What's the difference?"

"A circlet is more simple whereas a diadem is more ornate. Hey, Marth, are you _done_ yet?" Roy was tired of standing in a bathroom for twenty minutes waiting for Marth to finish fixing his hair.

"Almost," Marth answered, hooking the back piece now. "It is even in the back? It's not bunching, is it?"

Roy stood behind him in the mirror and shook his head.

"All right, we can go then. And next time you touch my hair, Link, I swear I will hurt you."

Link poked Marth's arm as they left the stinky bathroom. "Isn't that against your beliefs of not harming innocents?"

Marth deadpanned. "You are _far_ from innocent."

Link stopped walking as Roy and Marth continued up the stairs to the third floor.

"That's not funny!" Link shouted after them, before he started to try and catch up to them.

-x-

Roy threw his dirty clothes into the hamper and stretched his back, sighing in relief as the joints loosened. What he would do for a massage...

Link barged into the room as he always did, no matter how many times Marth or Roy requested for him to knock, or the sign they taped to the front door that read, "Knock please." Roy, clad in only boxers with miniature swords printed on them and a white wife-beater, jumped when Link walked over and slapped his arse.

_This better not become a new ritual for him_, Roy thought as he removed his sleepwear from between his bed sheets. He hoped Link wouldn't ask questions as to what they were doing there of all places, and luckily, Link didn't say anything.

"So how long do you get to wear those before Marth seduces them off you?" Link asked, pointing at Roy's underwear. Roy flushed as Link came closer, their bodies almost touching. Link 'accidentally' knocked into Roy and sent him flying onto his bed, the pajamas long forgotten as Link came crawling in after him, an odd look plastered on his face.

"In case you didn't learn from _last_ time," Roy said as he moved away, "Marth will totally kick your ass if he finds out you're trying to get into my pants again."

Link jingled a key in front of Roy's face as he pushed the red head back onto the bed, a playful look in his eyes.

"He won't if he can't get in."

Roy sat up once more as he watched the key move back and forth, the number nineteen imprinted on the large part of it.

"You stole his room key and locked him out so you could have your way with me?" Roy was very disturbed, as if Link had been planning this for a while.

Link nodded. "...Not quite."

Roy snorted but then yelped in surprise as Link moved next to him, grabbed him by the arm, and kissed him forcefully.

Roy had three good options. He could shove Link off and knock him unconscious, jump out the window (it wasn't _that_ high up), or break the door down. There was also a fourth option, but the odds of Marth hearing his shouting and then the prince being able to break the door down was rather unlikely.

Or he could suck it up and deal with it.

Roy pushed Link off of him, his eyes narrowed as he planned for the chosen course of action.

"Link, you have to understand that I don't _like_ you the same way I like Marth." He was going to try to reason with Link, and if that failed, he was going to get the heaviest object available and break the door down with it.

Link nodded. "Yes, I know that." He went for Roy again, but he was prepared for this. Grabbing Link's wrists, he flipped the Hero of Time onto his back and sat on top of him.

"Then you should know better than to try something like this. You _have_ a girlfriend. Zelda doesn't put out, I'm guessing, but that doesn't mean you have to look _elsewhere_."

Link tried to buck Roy off, but Roy held on and dug his knees into the mattress. He had ridden untamed horses that were ten times worse than what Link was attempting to do.

"You're not understanding me," Link said, moving his head to the side so he could talk easier. "I want to feel what you and Marth feel when you kiss! I'm...jealous that you and Marth can be so _perfect_ for each other and I get nothing in the end like always."

Roy said nothing as Link squirmed more in an attempt to break free.

"Before Marth came along, you and I always spent time with each other, and I didn't mind when he became apart of our group. Heck, I was hoping you and him would get together in the end, because you guys make a good couple. But..."

Roy got off of Link, but kept his grip on Link's wrists so he wouldn't try anything.

"But?" Roy urged.

"But then you started doing this and that with him. The way he discreetly caresses your cheek when you and him watch TV, the way you and him act when you're alone... _I_ want to _feel_ that, and I can't get such a feeling from Zelda... I'm jealous, man. Jealous. Jealous that you could be so happy with someone and yet I'm so damn miserable."

There was a knock at the door then, and Roy didn't know what to do. If he let go of Link, he might try something. Then again, Marth was probably at the door... But then Marth would want to know why he was in his underwear, why the door was locked, and why _Link_ of all people was in there...

He would deal with the questions later, he reasoned as he snatched the key from Link and unlocked the bedroom door, taking the Hero of Time with him as he did.

And just like Roy figured, Marth had a look of pure, utter betrayal, of horror.

"The door was locked and you were with Link _why_?" the prince asked as he let himself in.

"It's not what you think it is," Roy answered. "Link was the one who actually locked the door..."

Marth sat on Roy's bed, the mug of tea in his hands practically neglected at the sudden turn of events.

"_Why_ is the question I was asking."

"Because... Because he wanted..." What was Roy going to say? How does one tell their boyfriend that their best friend was trying to get into their pants to try to 'feel' something?

"He wanted _what_?" Marth pressed. Link was amazed at how calm Marth could sound, even if he was piping _mad_ with such intense anger.

"He wanted to talk to me about something private. He didn't want you barging in."

Link shook his head then. "...I did it again, Marth." He knew Marth would know what he was talking about.

Marth knew _exactly_ what Link was talking about. And he wasn't too happy, either.

Still keeping himself calm and collected, Marth stood and pointed to the door.

"I'm asking you with every last ounce of politeness I can muster to please _leave_, Link, before I do something that is beneath my status, which I will probably forget in the aftermath of what is to come."

Link quickly walked out of the room, but not before taking one last look at Roy.

"Sorry," he mouthed, and closed the door behind him.

"Roy..." Marth sighed, as if he were letting out some invisible steam that was building up inside him. He walked over to the computer desk and set his mug down on one of the available coasters. Roy came to Marth and wrapped his arms around Marth's neck, his head against Marth's chest. Marth embraced Roy tightly in return, his hand idly rubbing his back.

"Sometimes I wonder about you," Marth continued. "Sometimes I wonder if...you truly mean what you say."

Those words stabbed Roy in the heart.

"You shouldn't have to wonder, Marth," he replied. "My feelings for you are true. I mean every word when I say 'I love you'. Such words are for you and you alone."

Roy caught Marth's mouth with his own as he pushed him against the wall behind them. Marth broke the kiss, however.

"Marth..." Roy was trying so hard to keep his voice steady, but with each passing moment, it was becoming harder and harder. "I would never lie to you about something like this. I _love_ you with all my heart and you damn well _know_ that's true!"

Marth moved his hands to Roy's shoulders and gently pushed him off.

"...I'm not quite sure if what I think is true _is_ true anymore, Roy. Perhaps it would be best if we took a break from this relationship for a while, give us time to sort out these problems ourselves."

Roy shook his head. There was no way to conceal his tears or to stop his voice from cracking.

"No, Marth, don't _do_ this. Why can't you believe me when I say I have eyes for no one else? I don't love Link and I never _did_!"

Marth slid out from Roy's embrace and walked to his bed. "I'm not saying I don't believe you. But sometimes...people just need a break from each other to figure their problems out."

Roy followed him, biting his lip the whole time. "So you'll just stab me in the heart and leave me _wounded_? You're not thinking of what's best for me, you're only thinking about yourself!"

Marth turned then, his mask of calm shattered, which revealed someone with a look of hurt.

"What do you expect me to think, Roy? What do you _want_ me to say?"

Roy took Marth's hands and squeezed them in a comforting way. "I don't _love_ Link. My heart, my mind, my body all belong to _you_. Link isn't you, he never _will_ be you! I don't feel anything when he kisses me."

Marth was finding it very hard to breathe - his emotions were beginning to take control now.

"Don't leave me like this, Marth," Roy pleaded, grabbing onto his shirt now. "I never initiated anything with him, and yet you're treating me as if _I_ did something wrong, when in fact it was Link who did everything. I'm not a cheating whore and you _know_ that!"

Marth took a shuddery breath in an effort to calm himself.

"I'm sorry," Marth whispered. "I think for right now, it's better this way." He caressed Roy's cheek with his knuckles before pulling away from him. Without another word, he left the room, leaving a heartbroken Roy behind.

Roy fell to his knees in between the two beds, his right hand over his mouth and his eyes wide with shock as he suddenly broke down. He wasn't going to hold it in anymore. All of the pain, the anguish...it was too much and so he had to let it out. He didn't even bother wiping the tears from his eyes and simply let them fall onto his pants.

"Don't leave me like this," Roy muttered before kneeling face-down on the carpet. He banged his fist against the floor hard, causing the floorboards underneath to creak ominously, as if saying, "Ouch, stop hitting me!"

Marth knocked twice on room sixteen, located down the hall from his room, and opened it a crack. Upon seeing Link in there watching his younger self do homework, he opened the door wider.

"What's up?" Link asked, his expression cheerful. As soon as Link saw Marth's mournful expression, however, Link's grin disappeared in a flash.

"Congratulations, Link," Marth said, his tone earning a wince from Link. "If your goal was to break Roy and I up, you've succeeded."

And before Link could get a word in, or Young Link could ask what was going on, Marth shut the door harder than he intended to, and walked to the end of the hall, down the stairs, through the kitchen, and out the back door into the yard.

Marth needed to think about what he was doing, and tried so hard to ignore the searing pain in his chest, right over his heart.

_Is what I'm doing right?_ His heart ached considerably, told him to go back, to take Roy back. His mind, however, said that he needed to think everything over, examine everything said, before taking the general back.

_His_ general. He breathed in the cool night air and rubbed his tired eyes. He didn't know what to believe anymore, if his heart was right or his mind was.

Lingering outside for a few minutes longer, he eventually turned around and went back into The Manse, for it was beginning to get too late out. Graduation was tomorrow. He was supposed to act happy for such an occasion, put up a façade as he said his valedictory speech, all the while Roy would probably be on his mind.

He opened the door to his room and saw Roy asleep on his bed. Walking over to him, he pulled the covers over Roy and smoothed them out. It was a colder-than-usual summer night - sixty or so degrees - and he didn't want Roy to freeze. Without realising it, since it was habit, Marth kissed Roy's forehead and walked away.

He did not sleep well that night. Hugging the pillow was not a suitable substitute for Roy sleeping beside him.

-x-

**Author's Notes:** Owch, that's gotta hurt. Talk about an unexpected twist in the story, and in the second to last chapter, too. Will Marth and Roy get back together? That's for Marth and Roy to figure out.

Next chapter is the finale! I wonder what will happen to poor Link...


	16. Chapter 16

**Melee Academy of Higher Learning for Boys**

**Year Two**

**-Sixteen-**

**Author's Notes:** Normally I don't put author's notes at the beginning of the fic, but I feel that if I put them at the bottom, the effect would be ruined.

I just want to take this time to thank the readers who have stuck with this fic from beginning to end, and to those who have reviewed this fic. I appreciate the time you're taking out of your day to read this, and I'm happy you're enjoying it (and even letting me know about it) as much as I loved writing it. This was a fun fic and I am saddened by its ending. But while this segment may be over, the overall story isn't, and so all will be continued in Year Three.

So stay with me, my fellow readership, until the very end of this fic (and perhaps into the sequel). And I thank you all once again, for sticking it out this long, for putting up with the long spans of no updates, and telling me how much you like this fic. It means a lot.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the lyrics in this fic. They're from "Look at Us Now" by Sarina Paris, which wasn't written by me. I also don't own Super Smash Brothers Melee, which belongs to Hal Laboratories/Nintendo; Super Smash Brothers Brawl, which belongs to Nintendo; any other songs mentioned in this fic belong to their respective lyricists and artists; Resident Evil is also not mine. Stephen, Kweenetra, Nicholas, Gary, and any other original characters belong to me and were made solely for this fic.

-x-

_Everybody believed we would never be._

_Look at us up above,_

_We are so in love._

"So we have periods four, one, two, three, and six," Link said, his nose in the schedule packet they were given before exam week started. "Oh Farore, we have Mewtwo again today."

Roy said nothing as he slammed the locker shut, removing the lock from the door and pocketing it in his bag.

"...You're still mad, I see," Link remarked, folding the packet up and unzipping the front compartment of his book bag. Shoving it in there, he zipped it back up and leaned against the locker door, blowing a strand of long and very blond hair out of his face. He never realised just how long his hair really was, not like he really cared too much. Roy crossed the hall and sat on the other side, against the lockers there.

"I'm not sure just _who_ you're mad at, really," Link went on, for he did not like awkward silences too much.

"You and _him_," Roy answered quietly, surprised he was even talking to Link. "You for ruining everything and _him_ for ending it."

Link sighed and scratched his arm. "I'm sure Marth just needs some time to reconsider things. He's been under a lot of stress 'cause of graduation and..."

Roy shrugged, his expression indifferent. "He's not the _only_ one with stress, I hope he realises."

"I'm sure that, once this is all over, he'll be begging for you to take him back." Link smiled encouragingly.

"And if he doesn't?" Roy's voice was as indifferent as everything else about him.

Link's smile fell. So much for trying to cheer him up. "Then he wasn't worth crying over in the first place."

Roy pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on top of them. Enough about Marth already - he didn't want to keep talking about something that made him hurt so much.

"So did you talk to Zelda?" Roy asked, changing the subject. "I think she deserves to know about your...doubts."

Link rested his head against the lockers, his left arm resting on his knee, his other leg straight out on the floor so anyone could trip over it.

"I did," he said after a moment's hesitation. "She just stared at me and ripped the thread out of her needlepoint so...violently. I'm beginning to think all royalty do things passive-aggressively." Marth slamming his door last night came to mind.

Roy fiddled with his Melee Academy hoodie string, twirling it around his first two fingers as Link played around with his ID.

"So... Is she talking to you?"

Link shook his head. "I overheard her talking to Peach this morning. She's understandably upset, but...I thought she would understand more."

"Well, what did you tell her?" Roy inquired, still messing with his blue hoodie string.

_Link ventured into the girls' dorms, nervous as could be, and just as brave. The Triforce of Courage etched into the back of his sword hand did nothing to make him feel any more courageous._

_He knocked on her door and waited for her to open it, looking at the floor the entire waiting period. The door swung open and there was Princess Zelda, her expression miffed and her needlepoint in her hand._

_Had Marth talked to her before he got the chance, ruining any chance of possible reconciliation?_

_Link could understand, of course. An eye for an eye - Link ruined Marth's relationship, it was only fair that he do the same to him. But he did not know the Altean prince to be spiteful. Perhaps Marth thought he was doing good by saying something?_

_"What do you want, Link?" she asked him, opening the door wider._

_"To talk to you, Princess," he replied. "May I come in?"_

"So she let you in," Roy said, interrupting Link's retelling. "Did she stab you with her needlepoint then?"

Link shook his head. "That comes later. Anyway, I sat down in one of the chairs available, and she sat back down and returned to her sewing project. I think it was one of Young Link's pants..."

_Zelda stabbed the needle through the black fabric of what was to be Young Link's new uniform, stitching up a particularly troublesome hole._

_"What is this in reference to?" Zelda asked, her eyes focused more on her work than on Link._

_Link gulped and willed himself to calm before speaking. "...We must discuss our relationship, dear Princess."_

_Zelda's face did not express anything further, she just continued her handiwork under the extra desk lamp next to her._

_"Marth mentioned something to me before," she stated nonchalantly. "His words made me think of our current..." She paused, as if thinking of what to say. "Our current state-of-affairs."_

_Link shoved his hands into the pocket of his Melee Academy Cheerleaders hoodie and sank in his seat._

_"Do not take his words to heart, Zelda - he does not know our current situation."_

_Zelda threw her needlepoint down and faced him then, her mask of calm still in place. It seemed all royalty was taught to stifle any emotional showings._

_"Then why will you not be frank with me, Link? Why are you speaking to me as if we are not equals, as if we're so...distant?"_

"You talk properly around her?" Roy asked, shocked. "I thought in Kokiri Forest--"

"It rubbed off from Peach, Zelda, and Marth," Link cut off, waving his hand dismissively. "I figured that since she's my liege, I should speak in a deferential way. She and I are - and never will be - completely equal."

Roy shrugged. "And why should that matter? If you love her so much, Link, then status shouldn't matter."

Link snorted. "Really? I don't see how you would know, seeing as you and Marth are on the same level--"

"No we aren't," Roy interrupted. "Marth is a prince and I am a marquess's son. No matter which way you look at it, we are not equal. _But_ I didn't let it bother me - I didn't _care_ about his title. Love transcends all of that."

Link was silent then. "You and Marth are more equal than Zelda and I will ever be."

"Did you express this?"

"Of course. She was upset that I would let something like that bother me."

_"Because once we go back to Hyrule," he replied, "I am your knight and you are my lady. I am not supposed to be an equal."_

_Zelda huffed. "So then why were you seeking solstice in the arms of Roy if he is a __**lord**__? He isn't on equal footing with you, either."_

_"There is a difference between a lord and a princess," Link remarked. "A huge difference, Zelda."_

_"And so you are jealous of Roy and Marth because they are more equal, and therefore more loving? What do they have that I cannot offer you?"_

"I fail to see your logic, Link." Roy gave Link a questioning look, arms crossed now.

"Because something like status doesn't bother you, you're _both_ accepting of it... Neither of you are afraid of showing your feelings for one another."

"Is Zelda a killjoy or something when it comes to showing affection?"

"Yeah."

"Then it's probably due to her upbringing," Roy said. "Marth was the same way. It...it takes a while for someone who isn't used to showing emotions to start showing them. You do realise that, right?"

Link closed his eyes and contemplated Roy's words. "...It's been long enough, Roy. Months."

_"So then what are you saying?" Zelda asked, standing, her needlepoint at her feet._

_"I'm saying that I want you to be open with me," Link replied. "As open as they are with each other. If we don't communicate, Zelda, the relationship is screwed."_

_Zelda stomped about her spacious room, the yellow carpeting receiving indentations from her heels._

_"Link, I would be more than happy to hear what you have to say, but you're never __**around**__ enough for me to say anything, to ask how your day was. It's __**you**__ who's making the relationship suffer, not me."_

_"Then why not just pull me to the side and talk with me?" He wasn't understanding her logic. "You're not trying hard enough!"_

"And then we had a big huge fight and _that's_ when she stabbed me with her needlepoint," Link quipped. "I still have the marks from it, too."

Roy shook his head and sighed. "So she's not trying hard enough to communicate and you're looking for a more equal status when it comes to relationships. Just so I have this clear."

"Yes."

"Do you think you'll be more equal if it's with a guy?"

"It's possible." Link honestly wasn't sure. "I just...I don't want to feel left out. Zelda and I never really...dated. She was always so busy. I wasn't very happy."

"Then you should've broken it off." Roy was speaking as if he had experience.

"I was...planning to break up with her for about a month now. Apparently, so was she."

"Then why _didn't_ you?" Roy asked, hands clutching his knees. "You realise this doesn't make sense. You break up a perfectly happy couple instead of dealing with _your_ problems and breaking up a miserable one!"

Link winced as he was reminded once more of what he did.

"Do you think if I try to get you and Marth back together, it could mend everything?"

Roy stood then as Marth rounded the corner. "I think if you tried, it would make everything worse instead of better. Let's go, school's about to start for the day."

Roy made sure he had everything before he began walking towards the back staircase, the opposite direction from his ex-boyfriend.

"We have five minutes before English!" Link called after him, shouldering his fallen bag strap. He sighed then as Marth stared at his lock-less locker.

"He took it, didn't he?" Marth asked, opening the locker and grabbing his remaining texts.

"Took what?" Link asked, facing the prince with downcast eyes.

"My lock."

Link nodded as Marth closed it; something from one of the adjacent lockers fell off the wall and hit the metal bottom with a _clank_, probably a magnetic mirror.

"...How is he?" Marth asked, leaning against the chipped locker.

"Still understandably pissed at us."

Marth looked disappointed, or at least more disappointed than he looked last night. "...I see."

Link placed a hand on Marth's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.

"He'll be okay."

Marth sighed as Link left, running full speed past the bathrooms, and through the doors leading to the second floor of the new building.

_I know he won't be okay_, Marth thought. _No matter how hard he tries to hide it, he's still hurting, and I'm the one to blame for it._

-x-

Roy tapped his finger against the desk as Mr. Georgeston passed back the exams, clicking at particular people's whenever the opportunity presented itself.

"Overall, you all did well. Individually, I'm afraid, is a whole other story." He placed Roy's and Link's exams face down on their respective desks, Roy staring at his lap and Link reading one of the essays stapled on the cork-board. It was a melodramatic story that read like _The Young and the Restless_, a soap opera he knew only because Peach watched it religiously. Some girl's boyfriend cheated on her so she cut him into pieces with an axe, and then her Rottweiler ate them when she mixed them in with the dog food. He turned away looking a little green in the face, holding his stomach as he tried to not barf up his breakfast.

Roy was looking over his exam, staring at the questions marked with an "X" over the number with particular interest.

"What'd you get?" Link asked, scooting his desk closer to Roy's, as they always did.

"An eighty-five," Roy replied. "Somehow I completely managed to screw up all the questions on _Julius Caesar_. What about you?"

Link turned his over and nearly bruised his chin from his jaw dropping. There, at the top of the scantron in red marker-pen, was "95". Circled and with a smiley face next to it, even.

"How the hell did you manage to get a ninety-five?" Roy asked, staring at the grade with disbelief.

Link shrugged. He was just as clueless. "All I did was doodle a flower pattern with the bubbles and...Wow."

Roy hid his grin behind his hand. "That's one for the fridge. Peach is gonna be _gushing_ over it. We should show Marth--"

Link sighed and Roy went back to looking at his exam, focusing on the essays now.

"I'm sure that, if Peach puts it on the fridge, Marth'll see it." Just to be sure, Link double checked to see that he wasn't looking at it with the paper upside-down. That one time he thought he had a fifty was caused by his paper being upside down. It was really a five.

-x-

"Hey, Roy, guess what?"

It was after third period. Link walked out of his history class with such a triumphant-looking grin that Roy was worried he killed a man or something.

"What?" Roy asked as they walked around the corner of their shortcut to their sixth period class. Link produced a packet of papers and handed it to Roy. Circled in red ink was a one hundred percent at the top of the page.

"Are you _sure_ this is your exam and not someone else's?" the general asked, stopping at the row of lockers before room 221.

Link nodded, his ponytail swaying back and forth violently as he did. "Turns out I'm not as stupid as I thought I was!"

Roy handed the exam back and slid the door of their Japanese classroom open, revealing Stephen and Nicholas, Kweenetra and Gary, and Mewtwo sitting at his desk with trademark newspaper and coffee-combo. Roy walked to his desk and sat in his seat, Link in his.

"I got a ninety-five on my History," Roy offered to the conversation. "A one hundred on my Journalism and Algebra exams, and I'm pretty confident about this class."

Link sunk in his seat. "I managed to pass Hylian, I can move onto Geometry now, and I probably failed this class."

Roy shrugged. "At least you'll have two exams to put on the fridge, right?"

Marth entered the classroom then, stopped in front of Mewtwo's desk, and dropped his textbook on it with a loud _slam_. Under his arm was a portfolio with a bunch of papers sticking out, as if they were messily shoved in there at the last second.

"You may take your seat, Lowell," Mewtwo said, not looking up from his crossword. Marth nodded, spun on his heel, and took his seat next to Roy. He didn't look too happy about something, from the looks of everything, as he slammed the portfolio on the table, opened it, and organised its contents.

"What're you angry about?" Link inquired, jamming the exams into his bag so he wouldn't lose them.

"Stupid valedictorian address I have to write," Marth replied, his fingertips massaging his temples, pen in between his index and middle fingers, as he stared at the blank legal pad. "I'm not very good at writing speeches."

Link and Roy threw him an odd look then.

"I know what you're both thinking," Marth said. "I'm a prince, I should be able to write moving speeches at the drop of a hat, on the back of a dinner napkin."

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of an envelope, but I guess a napkin works, too," Link said after a moment's pause.

The bell rang then, signaling the class was starting, and Marth groaned as he stared at the blank page.

"I'm doomed."

Roy grabbed Marth's pen and pad then as he said, "You're beginning to sound like Link now. Let me do it before you hurt yourself."

Marth stared at the lord with a quizzical look. He was stunned that Roy would even bother to help him, especially after what conspired last night.

"...Why are you doing this?" he asked as Roy put pen to paper and began writing something down.

"So you won't look like an ass in front of four hundred and two people, plus faculty and parents and what not," Roy answered, speaking more to the yellow pad in front of him than to Marth.

"I have your exams," Mewtwo said ten minutes after the bell rang. He put his paper on the desk, stood from his seat, and proceeded to the podium.

"Most of you are lucky to have passed. This is not surprising in the least since you are the least motivated bunch of students I have ever seen in my two years of teaching here. I won't name specific names, except Link's, because that is just too cruel." Mewtwo presented Link's exam to the class, holding it up like one of those game show attendants on the Price is Right!.

"I suggest that no one follow his example and not fill anything in except where it says _namae_ in big bold hiragana, and I'm surprised he even got that far. This is what causes you to fail. Compare this with Marth's." The Pokemon then showed Marth's exam, which had a radically different grade.

"You should be striving for one hundreds in my class. An A plus isn't good enough if it isn't the full one hundred percent."

Link banged his head against the desk as Marth said nothing. Roy, meanwhile, was still writing the speech for Marth, and was about half-way done. The boy could write fast and concise if he was under enough pressure.

"Ninety nine point nine percent of you got a grade between zero and a hundred, but don't get your hopes up - some of you did only _slightly_ better than Link." And with that, Mewtwo distributed the graded finals with the excitement of a rock. Roy's landed on his desk, a circled ninety eight in the right corner of the top page. Underneath that was his fourth marking period grade and his average for the semester.

"Hey, he has the highest average in the class!" Kweenetra shouted, pointing her finger at the red head's paper, her voice filled with the fury of the gods.

Mewtwo shrugged. "So what?"

Kweenetra folded her arms, her brow knit with obvious rage at such an atrocity. "I worked my arse off and manage to get the _third_ highest! This is because I'm a girl, isn't it? _Isn't it_? I oughta complain to Mr. L. Hand..."

Mewtwo looked up from his resumed crossword. "Are you done yet?"

She stood then, palms face down on her desk top. Clearly she wasn't going to let the issue rest until she got her way. Or Mewtwo booted her out of the class. Whichever came first.

"I should start a women's lib. movement in this school. I want to be treated just like everyone else, dammit! It's because he's a guy that he gets the highest average! I get nothing! _Nothing_! Treated like dirt! _Dirt_! You made Stephen wear a strap-on and become a guy to fulfill your sick agenda! Well guess what? I will _not_ stand for this!"

Mewtwo's head snapped up and he immediately used Disable on her, so she would shut up for once in her life. Once her body had slumped back down onto her chair and she couldn't move a muscle, he calmly went back to his word puzzle.

"First off, you are the only female in this _all boys_ school. Therefore, you will be treated like a freak and possibly ostracised, because your parents are morons for sending their daughter to a boys only school. Second of all, your logic is flawed, because if I gave only boys high averages, Link wouldn't have failed my class and they would all be able to apply to the Japanese Honour Society. _You can_ if you truly wanted to, because your grades qualify you. You have the _third highest average_, which is a ninety five percent and nothing to sneeze at.

"As for getting nothing and being treated like dirt, I think I made myself quite clear in my previous comments. I didn't make Stephen do _anything_, for I lack the authority to command him to do such things as become a female to male transvestite. Take that up with Crazy Hand. And as for 'not standing for this', you are sitting down, my dear, and that is where you belong. As long as you are in this classroom, I tell you what you can and can't do."

Kweenetra said nothing since the effects of Disable hadn't worn off yet. Stephen was amazed at the sheer audacity of Kweenetra's actions, Nicholas had a look of disbelief, and Gary had a new hero in his life. Link held up a sign that said, "YOU GO KWEE!", Roy was almost done with Marth's speech, and Marth was looking through his exam.

Link quickly grew bored of his cheerleading session and whipped his Nintenpod from his blazer pocket. Plugging the earbuds into his ears, he put on a random song and hummed along.

"I-wanna be the papa, you can be the moooom," he sang, doing a little dance in his seat. No one thought it strange, for this was normal behaviour you expected of him. It was a shame no one told him 'Temperature' was a sexual song. Marth honestly thought Link was implying something.

Roy shoved the pad of paper and the pen in Marth's face a few minutes later.

"Have fun."

"Look at us, baby, look at us nooow," Link sang after switching the song to something else. "We made it, baby, look at us now."

"Link, shut up," Roy said, covering his ears. Link ignored Roy and merely cranked up the volume to the point where people on the other side of town could hear it.

_What the hell?_ Roy thought. _Link listens to Sarina Paris? And why the hell do I even __**know**__ the singer?_ Probably because she was on Roy's 2200 song playlist somewhere. Like everything else.

"He's going to end up deaf if he keeps it like that for long," Marth commented, reading over his essay.

"I think he's already half-way there, Marth."

"Shame he has to have everyone listen to his sappy techno music." Marth was amazed Roy managed to write a three page essay in the same amount of time it would take him to form one sentence.

Roy didn't think it was _that_ sappy. He rested his head on his desk, his arms cradling it.

_Remembering the time our love was not so fine._

Roy buried his face in his arms so no one would see. A few days before, Roy - whenever he would hear this song - would automatically think of his relationship with Marth. However, since their relationship exploded and his heart along with it, the song would do nothing but make him ache. Was Link _trying_ to make his heart shatter again? Probably not. It wasn't like Link planned for the relationship to blow up into a million pieces of shrapnel.

_Why __**me**__? Of all people, why me?_ He snuck a glance at Marth and saw him doodling on the margins of his essay, bored out of his mind.

_And why does he have to be so damn __**beautiful**__?_

-x-

Roy and Marth walked down the bleachers of the stadium in silence, neither knowing just what to say. There were many things Marth wanted to tell Roy, that he was a moron for letting him go, that he let his emotions take over the situation instead of his mind, that he felt the harsh tension between them and wanted it to disappear. He just wanted to take Roy into his arms and apologise for his hurting him, and his willingness to make everything right. But if he suddenly did these things, he might chase Roy away or worse - hurt him even more than he ever intended to.

Roy bit his lip, trying to think of a way to break the awkwardness between them.

"S-So how was the essay?" Roy asked, thinking that was a safe topic. The wind was unseasonably cold, and so Roy shoved his hands further into his hoodie pocket and hunched his shoulders when it unceremoniously blew through the stadium. It was always so windy there, but never so cold. Perhaps it was reflecting their current feelings? Roy didn't know.

"It was way better than anything I could come up with in a week," Marth answered, stopping at the railing in front of the bottom-most bleacher. Roy balanced himself on the lowest rung of the railing whereas Marth simply leaned against it, arms folded on top.

"You nervous about tonight?" Roy knew Marth hated public speaking, which was ironic considering Marth was the head of a country.

Marth made a weird sort of sound, like he was about to say something but then cut himself off at the last minute.

"A little," the prince replied. "I try not to think about it too much. Otherwise I get a little...sick feeling."

Roy, without a second thought, removed his right hand from his pocket and rested it on top of Marth's. He didn't even seem to register that he did such a thing until he wondered why his hand was so cold, and saw it there.

_If he minded it so much, he would've shoved my hand off by now_.

Another breeze swept through the stadium once more, tussling their hair and making Roy colder by the second. Normally, he would lean against Marth for warmth, but he figured that since they were no longer together, it wouldn't be appropriate to do so. It was an overwhelming temptation, though, and Roy had to fight against it hard to not act on it. It wouldn't do either of them good if Marth freaked out.

"You'll do fine," Roy said at last, watching various volunteers carry equipment onto the field for the graduation. One person was plugging a monitor into an extension cord, another was plugging some of the band instruments into a sound board connected to the aforementioned, so people would be able to hear them over everything else.

"...Roy..." Marth turned to him then, his eyes filled with unsettled intentions.

"What?"

"We...should talk about what happened."

Roy pursed his lips and scratched his cheek. "There's nothing more to say about it." It felt like an old wound was opening up again, the skin tearing along the scarred remains of the seam.

"There's plenty left to say," Marth pressed. He moved his fingers under Roy's chin and made him look. "I can tell by looking at you that there are things you're leaving unspoken."

"You hurt me," Roy said, pushing his hand away. "You wounded me and left me to pick up the pieces of my shattered heart." It was clear Roy was a writer, and if he _wasn't_ one, he should become one instead. He looked back at the field.

Marth wasn't one to back down, however. He had a hidden stubbornness inside him.

"And I will forever regret that," he said, closing the gap between them. "But you have to tell me what you're feeling, what's on your mind, so we can fix this."

Roy shook his head. He wasn't going to cry again - he promised himself he wouldn't. He shed every last one last night on the bedroom carpet, right where he left the remnants of his relationship to rot.

"There's nothing left to fix." If only he could have kept his voice steady. "No amount of talking can fix us."

Marth clenched his jaw as he grabbed Roy's shoulders and made Roy face him.

"I am _not_ going to give up on this just because I said some stupid words!" His voice seemed to echo throughout the stadium, and the volunteers peered in their direction.

"Words can hurt a lot more than you realise, Marth."

"I _know_ that, Roy. I was never good at expressing myself in the first place, and this is one of those occasions where no amount of words can make up for what I said. _Talk to me_, Roy. Shout at me, spit at me, scream obscenities at me until you're blue in the face. Say _something_."

Roy took a deep breath then. Should he let it all out? Once he got started, it would be very hard to stop the deluge of feelings.

Releasing it, he said, "As tempting as that offer is, I'm afraid I must decline."

Marth was ready to throttle him, he really was.

"That is such _bullshit_," Marth said, swearing for what seemed like the first time (outside of sex, anyway). "You're _hurting_, Roy. When I said it was over between us, I might as well have flown to Pherae and murdered your father. _That's_ how hurt you are right now, and don't you _dare_ act as if you're not because I will keep pressing and pressing until you finally tell me _everything_."

"I'm good with managing my feelings, Marth. I've seen a lot."

"I've seen a hell of a lot more than you have, and don't you say otherwise. You didn't see your parents murdered right before your eyes, or nearly kill your own sister because some evil druid is using her as a shield, or have to deal with an ally betray you and then invade and destroy your country and treat your people like utter _shit_."

Roy blinked in quick succession. "...I never knew that."

"That isn't the _point_, Roy," Marth replied, trying to calm himself a little. "My point is that I've dealt with a lot of things - most of them not even good - so you can't tell me something as heart shattering as what you dealt with yesterday has nothing more to say!" He didn't care if he constructed the most poorly phrased sentence in the world, so long as Roy got the point.

"All right then," Roy said, after mulling Marth's words over. "I'll bite. Because of you, I feel like my heart's been irreparably broken by being thrown against a wall, stepped on, and then stabbed a few times for good measure. I feel empty inside, I feel hurt and betrayed. You might as well have spat in my face and thrown me to the floor and then you should've gone and killed my _father_ for Roland's sake. And every time I look at you, I can't help but still love you, still want to be _near_ you, even though it hurts and my heart bleeds and bleeds and bleeds. And though the stitches get ripped out every single time, I would still place myself beside you, no matter how much it hurt, because _I love you_."

And just when Marth was about to say something, Roy added, "But I still hate you, and I hate myself for thinking you're so beautiful, and that we're so right for each other."

The rest of the band's instruments and equipment were all set up, along with their respective owners, and four hundred and one students were congregating at the top of the bleachers.

"Now I've gotta go practise for tonight with the band," Roy said, before Marth could press any further. "That's all I'd have to do is screw up the music for tonight. Zelda would kill me."

He hopped over the railing and onto the track. He felt numb, oh so numb, and didn't feel the stinging in the soles of his feet from the impact as he walked over to the rest of the band. Marth watched his retreating back and sighed.

_I will do everything in my power to make this right._

-x-

Marth took his place at the podium just as the last notes of _Pomp and Circumstance_ played out, speech in hand. He set his papers on top of the podium and adjusted the microphone just as everyone sat down and the band rested their instruments. Link prodded Roy in the ribs and nearly caused Roy to beat the bass drum, earning a warning look from Zelda as she turned to face front again.

"What?" Roy whispered as he took his foot off the bass pedal.

"I hope Marth doesn't choke," was all Link said. Then, as if it were an afterthought, he added, "I wonder if he'll start the speech off with 'My fellow Nintendians'..."

Someone nearby snorted at Link's attempt at humour, and Zelda threatened him with instant suspension if they did it again.

"It actually begins with--"

"My fellow graduates," Marth spoke, his voice echoing through the air as he read the prepared speech. "Our four year sentence is up. It flew by fast, didn't it? It seemed like yesterday when we walked through those front doors for the first time ever, afraid of the unknown. We managed all right with our subjects - we had to have if we made it here - and found other things along the way."

Link prodded Roy in the ribs once more just when Marth paused to look at the audience.

"_What_?" Roy harshly whispered, ready to beat Link over the head with his drumsticks.

"I like the speech," Link said, shrinking into his seat when Roy threatened him with the aforementioned percussion objects.

"Mmm," was Roy's answer. "I always thought he should go into voice acting. He'd have millions of adoring fans saying how sexy he sounds."

"We found interesting teachers, friends, extended family, and some even found love," Marth continued, and nearly stumbled at the last part of the sentence. No one noticed the fear in Marth's eyes, or even the start of his nervousness.

"You added that part in there on purpose, didn't you?" Link murmured to his companion. Roy smirked.

"Damn straight I did."

"All of these things are things we treasure the most - the friendships, the courtships, the companionships we made - that we hope to bring with us into our futures. We've come such a long way, a milestone for many. But this is only one task we completed. The rest is up to you, my fellow classmates. We are the future musicians, authors, scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and so forth. We are to set an example for the younger ones to follow, a good example we can look back on and feel good about."

Link nearly fell asleep half-way through Marth's speech and had to be whacked awake. He almost managed to break his oboe somehow, possibly from him gripping it so tight in the fear that the Sharpie Thieves would come and accost him in the night.

When Marth's three page speech came to an end, there was an uproar of applause from students, teachers, and parents alike. Many whistled, others just clapped, and a few even began to sing Queen's _We Are the Champions_. Marth straightened out his papers and went to his seat right next to the salutatorian.

Everything else seemed like a blur to Roy, who didn't really care much about the ceremony anymore. Zelda was taking a crap load of pictures, even going so far as to swap to an empty memory card for her camera.

They went through all four hundred and two names for the diplomas, many shaking hands with the distributor, others giving air-kisses, some even flipping off the bird. After receiving their diplomas, the people moved their tassels to signify that they were now alumni, that they could piss "fuck you" on the side of the school and not care about the consequence of expulsion. Roy paid little interest to the awards, though Link seemed quite attentive. It figured that the top three students got about a million awards and people in the top ten percent rarely got any more than three.

Roy hoped that, when he graduated, he didn't end up as valedictorian. He didn't want to be called up every five seconds for a Best in a Foreign Language award or something equally stupid. Perhaps he was just feeling very bitter at that moment. He sighed; he was pretty bitter, but could you really blame him for feeling that way?

And just like that, it was over. Roy played an impromptu drum solo as Link played _Taps_ on his oboe. It wasn't like anyone cared - everyone was congratulating the graduates and asking for pictures and wanting to see their diplomas and all two billion awards. Zelda was even bawling her eyes out when she ran over and hugged Marth.

Link pulled out a harmonica and began to play something rather jazzy-sounding.

_I didn't know Link could play the harmonica_.

And suddenly, Marth was there right in front of them, his mask of calm long gone by this time, for emotions were running high.

"Would you mind...?" Marth asked, gesturing towards Roy. "I have a few things to say."

Roy set down his drumsticks and got away from the drum set.

"Privately, I'm guessing," Roy mused as Marth began walking to a less crowded area.

When they were under the lone tree at the most secluded part of the track...

"I'm sorry," Marth whispered, almost being drowned out by the rustling of the leaves as a breeze came through.

Roy drummed his fingers on the crook of his arm. "That's all you have to say?"

Marth shook his head. "You're not giving me a chance here, Roy."

"Then say whatever it is you want to say so we can get this over with." He watched through narrowed eyes as Marth fell to his knees and reached for Roy's hand.

"It was wrong of me to...to hurt you so badly. It was wrong of me to just...throw what we had away instead of just listening to you, instead of thinking before making such irrational decisions."

As Roy listened, his eyes gradually softened, and he slowly relaxed his body. An apology for what he had done. A confession that he was wrong.

"I know it won't be forgotten easily, and forgiveness does come slowly to most, but...I love you, Roy. I want you back, I _need_ you back. I... I miss you."

Roy honestly didn't know what to say, what to do.

"I stand before you, humbling myself before you, asking you not as the Prince of Altea but as your _lover_... Please forgive me for my mistakes, my lord-general. I am merely human."

Roy uncrossed his arms and gestured for Marth to stand. He didn't want Marth to _beg_ or say such absurd and embarrassing things. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Marth's neck and captured Marth's lips in his.

It was a start, at least. Roy would have wandered back into Marth's arms eventually.

"Just promise me something," Roy said after he pulled away.

"Anything."

Roy rested his head against Marth's chest, the top touching Marth's shoulder, his hands rested there as well.

"Promise me you'll never hurt me again."

Marth kissed the top of Roy's head and rested his cheek there afterwards.

"On my honour," he replied, and embraced Roy tightly as the last remaining rays of light disappeared behind the tall buildings that made up their town.

He wasn't going to make the same mistake again, wasn't going to let him go again.

_I know that you will stay._

**Fin**


End file.
